Untitled for now
by Spider240
Summary: Basically, it's like it was in 794AD. Dont really know what else to say about it so just read. Hayate x Hitomi, Ayane x Hayabusa, OC x OC. Chapter 7 Up
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer**- I do not own Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden in any way. This peice of fan fiction came from my own ideas and my own mind. If there are any other fan fiction writers that have already done this it is pure coincidence.  
  
**A.N.**- This is just basically biographies. The first chapter won't be posted until I'm done with my current DOA, Our Past, Our Future. Ah, and character suggestions are welcome. Oh, and one more thing, I did a damn, helluva lotta long, tiring reasearch for this peice of fiction... well at least, more than nessecary... anyways, I went out of my way for this. You don't like? Well then, don't review. I will only tolerate good reviews and helpful comments. No flames, no spams, no flooding, no trolling, not anything negative that your minds can come up with. Keep it positive people... great now I'm a hypocritical pessimist... I'm also fully aware that during the time period of this story, Germans never visited Japan and vice versa. But that's why this is an AU. And all DOA characters look the same.  
  


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**Untitled**

Character Bios

_By: Joey/Mai fan15 aka Hitomi/Hayate fan aka Spider_

  


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**Main Cast:**  
  
**Hayate Matsusuke**- Son of the current leader of the Tenshin Mon faction of Ninjitsu. He is behind in his training of Kaji-in (ninja magic) but acells far beyond his peers in the feild of weaponry fighting. He is still going through training and is expected to finish up within the next year.  
Age: 16  
Preffered Weaponry: Shuriken/Ninjato/Tanto  
Kaji-in: Rin/Hei  
  
**Ryu Hayabusa**- Son of the best friend to the leader of the Tenshin Mon faction. Ryu accels in every feild of Ninjitsu and his wisdom is beyond his age. He is no longer in training and is now a Shinobi. He has mastered Kaji-in, a tecnique that has taken even the elders a lifetime to master.  
Age: 16  
Preffered Weaponry: Ninjato/Yari  
Kaji-in: Rin/Hei/Toh/Sha/Kai/Jin/Retsu/Zai/Zen  
  
**Ayane Matsusuke**- The step-daughter to the leader of the Tenshin Mon faction. Her real father, the faction leader's brother, had been banished for raping her mother, the faction leader's wife. She is the only one to master basic magic tecniques before reaching the rank of Kunoichi  
Age: 14  
Preffered Weaponry: Bow/Tanto  
Kaji-in: Rin/Hei/Toh/Sha/Retsu  
  
**Kasumi Matasusuke**- The brother of Hayate and step-sister of Ayane. Kasumi, like her brother, falls behind in magic. She hasn't reached the level of weapons training of Hayabusa or Hayate.  
Age: 15  
Preffered Weaponry: Longbow/Tanto  
  
**Hitomi Cristobal**- The daughter of a rich Japanese woman and her German husband.  
Age: 15  
Preffered Weaponry: N/A  
Kaji-in: N/A  
  
**Mari Shuizuho**- When she was younger, she and Hayate were set to be married due to their parent's orders. She follows Hayate around a lot unless advised not to or senses that her presance would damage their relationship. Unknown to her (and everyone else) Hayate doesn't return her feelings and thinks of her as an annoying shadow.  
Age: 16  
Hair: Brown, raised ponytail  
Eyes: Brown  
Preffered Weaponry: Longbow/Tessen/Kakute  
Kaji-in: Rin/Hei/Sha/Retsu/Zen  
  
**Heero Tsuyoshi**- Mari's older cousin. He specializes in projectile weapons and has keen senses of hearing, smell, and sight. He is Hayate's tutor when his teacher isn't around. He has earned the rank of Shinobi.  
Age: 19  
Hair: Bleached, spiked  
Eyes: Purple>  
Preffered Weaponry: Shuriken/Tetsu-Bishi/Fukiya  
Kuji-in: Rin/Hei/Toh/Kai/Jin/Retsu  
  
**Erikku Kohachirou**- The only other trainee to match Hayate's weaponry skills. He is a poisons expert and can find an antidote or remedy for almost any disease. He refuses to use poison himself because his parents were both killed while digging around for shuriken that was covered in poison to kill enemy samurai. He makes poisons for Heero (among others) to use. He is a relentless warrior who will complete any test thrown at him and is expected togive the same heart during missions when he becomes a ninja. He hasn't been able to become a ninja or a Shinobi due to his lack of Kaji-in and his tendancy to stay and fight against impossible odds rather than run fail his test.  
Age: 17  
Hair: Black with red tips, like Edison Chan from Gen-Y cops.  
Eyes: Black  
Preffered Weaponry: Naginata/Shuriken/Kusari-Gama/Ninjato  
Kaji-in: Hei  
  
**Yuuna Anyarei**- Yuuna is a skilled archer and has the best aim of the trainees and can even shoot more accurately than Heero. She has made numerous attempts to help Erikku to recover from the pain that he has experienced and finds herself growing closer to him every day. She learned how to use the Ninjato and Hei from Erikku. Her parents are high ranking leaders of the Tenshin-Mon faction. She hasn't been able to master Kaji-in or weaponry because has to take care of he seven brothers and sisters since she is the oldest.  
Age: 16  
Hair: Black, perfectly straight, hip-length  
Eyes: Brown  
Preffered Weaponry: Tessen/Longbow/Kakute/Ninjato  
Kuji-in: Hei  
  
**MINOR CHARACTERS WILL BE REVEALED AS THE STORY PROGRESSES**  
  


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**A.N.**- Remember, this will not be continued until I am finished with OP,OF which will most likely be within the next three days. I am taking suggestions for OC's one guy, one girl. So remember, make your creation as creative as possible, and make sure they can exist in 794-1192 A.D. because I'm only picking one guy and one girl. So until I get back to this, post OC's  



	2. One step closer

**A.N.**- Keep in mind this is an AU and there are different ages as well as personality caused by the age difference as well as the time period. SUBMIT ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. THERE IS STILL ONE OPENING  
  
**Forevermore**- Thanks for the OC. Oh, I've changed her weapon to a ninjato because that's the type of sword ninja's used. Ninja swordsmiths would normally really be outlaws or farmers so they didn't have the skills to make an excellent sword like a katana. They didn't have the tools to make curved blades or have the same metal alloys that swords the samurai bought. A ninja would steal a samurai's katana (or whatever weapon they carried) because it was much better. The ninjato would have to be used in a sawing motion. Slashing from the end and bringing it inward as you moved it down, or vice versa while the samurai's katana was so sharp that it could be dropped and cut a soldier in two, even with their armor on. When she goes on a mission, I'll make it so that she steals a samurai's sword.  
  
**Wolf Runner**- Good, I thought no one else was gonna review. I'm gonna give a some more people a chance first. I couldn't pass up Forevermore's because her character provides a solution to getting Hayate to where he needs to be to get the plot right. If no one elses submits a better OC, then I'll put yours up hopefully before the third chapter. Tai won't be behind in Kuji-in so that your storyline will fit for him.  
  
**Primary Kuji-in**:  
**Rin**: Brings strength to the mind and body  
**Hei**: Delivers psychic power to mask presance  
**Toh** Balances the solid and liquid states of the body  
**Sha**: Heals the user or another  
**Kai**: Control all bodily functions like heart rate, temprature, etc.  
**Jin**: Increases telepathic powers  
**Retsu**: Increases telekenetic powers and stun opponents  
**Zai**: Merge with the universe  
**Zen**: Enlightenment  
  


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**New Characters**  
  
**Midori Matsusuke**- The daughter of the Tenshin Mon faction's youngest brother. She is jealous of Hayate's position as heir of the Tenshin Mon. She is determined to get rid of Hayate and become the leader of the Tenshin Mon when her training is over.  
Age: 15  
Hair: Dark Brown, long braid.  
Eyes: Black  
Preffered Weaponry: Ninjato  
Kuji-in: Hei/Toh/Sha/Retsu  
  


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**???**

???

_By: Joey/Mai fan15 aka Hitomi/Hayate fan aka Spider_

  


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    Arrows flew through the air, sticking into their target's chests. The samurai were caught offguard by the sudden attack of the assassin group hired by a wealthy rival family. The samurai fell to the ground, collapsing in the mud. So was the price to pay for ruining an important mission.  
  
    Suddenly a salvo of flaming arrows flew against the regular arrows, burning the trees that were the source of the offensive attack. The remaining samurai sighed in releif as the fire died down and the retreat of the ninjas was confirmed. A smart move since their presance had been discovered.  
  
    The samurai reported to their empoyer's dining hall as was routine after an attack. The old man who had hired them as bodyguards was furious, "What do I pay you people for? To sit around and talk while they kill members of my family? While you were all outside waging hopless war against them, they stuck scorpions in my son's bed. He's dead now because none of you followed what you were supposed to do."  
  
    "Sir, we didn't think we'd make it to the rooms in time."  
  
    "So what, you could have made it. It's better than not going at all," he looked out the window, "My daughter, Naemi's family is coming tomorrow. I do not want this happening again. She has a husband and a daughter, I don't want them to be killed either."  
  
    "Sir, tonight we have decreased by at least half."  
  
    "There are thirty more samurai that are coming. They should arrive three hours before Naemi."  
  
    "Sir..."  
  
    "Go back outside, resume your duties. Now!" the man walked bitterly away, "You're lucky my archers saved you."  
  


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    Erikku Kohachirou sat down at his worktable and took a toad from a barrel and set to work exctracting the poision from behind it's eyes. The toxin dripped out into a small bowl. Within minutes he had finished up on the toad and threw it back into the barrel.  
  
    He was about to get some darts to dip in the poison when someone called from the front room. He took off his gloves and facemask and headed to the front of the shop to come face to face with Zyunichi Anyarei, Yuuna's father, "Hey kid."  
  
    "What do you need? I just finished up with the toad poison. Or do you need some sort of medicine?" Erikku handed him the inventory list.  
  
    "I just got back from another mission, I just need one of those burn antidotes. They shot some molatov arrows at me, my upper arm stings," the ninja stood as Erikku retreated to the back room and reappeared with a jar of the burn antidote.  
  
    "Just rub a handfull of this on your arm, it'll feel better in a few hours. It'll also help the burn marks fade," he tossed it to the Anyarei.  
  
    "You're running a great buisness here, kid. You're parents would be proud. They were good friends of mine, I'd know."  
  
    "Thanks," Erriku started to get back to work as the ninja started to leave.  
  
    "Oh, Shinden wanted me to get you for your Kuji-in training. He says you're very far behind and to report to Mr. Kyuu's cabin. Hayate should on his way already," Zyunichi turned to leave, "I'll send Yuuna over later with the payment. Her brothers and sisters can manage for a few minutes. Her mother and I have to do some more work for Shinden."  
  
    "Thanks, but I'll just stop by there. I might even help her with them," Erriku ushered him out and headed off towards his teacher's house. He didn't like having to study magic with him especially because he made Hayate and him feel guitly about being behind in Kuji-in.  
  
    He was shortly joined by Hayate and Mari who was following him around again. Hayate ran up to him, "Get her away from me."  
  
    "Sorry, man. I can't, she wont take her eyes off you."  
  
    Mari walked a few feet behind the two, they whispered so she couldn't hear a word. Erikku couldn't help but feel sorry for her since she was oblivious to how Hayate really felt about her. Maybe if she wasn't so obsessive, it would be different, "You two are getting married in a couple of years. If you don't want it to seem like hell on earth, you need to start spending more time with her."  
  
    "Spend more time with her? You realize that she's following me around every day, right? Besides, I'll find a way for my father to accept that I don't want her."  
  
    "Well, there is a loophole for everything. But Shinden thinks that she's the perfect wife for you. She's smart, she's knows a fair share of magic, she's beautiful, she's a great kunoichi."  
  
    Hayate scoffed, "If you think so high of her, why don't you take her off my back?"  
  
    "I would, but she's supposed to marry you. Hayate... why did you have to tell me about this anyway? It's torture hearing all your problems about her every day."  
  
    "Because Heero would tell Shinden. Ryu, even though he's a good friend, would give me lectures about how it's important to follow traditions and all that crap. My sisters would scold me about it. And everyone else would tell."  
  
    Erikku was glad that Hayate trusted him, but was equally dissappointed that he trusted him with this, "Well too bad cause I'll scold you about this too. Seriously, you have to accept it."  
  
    "I'll find a way out."  
  
    The two walked up the stairs to their teacher's cabin. He stood up and they bowed respectfully to him. He returned the gesture and motioned for them to sit down, "Glad you could have joined us, Mari."  
  
    "Thank you, sir."  
  
    The elder had been the one of the first to master all eighty one hand symbols of Kaji-in, including the nine primarys. He always expected the same commitment and dedication of his students that he had when he was a child. Maybe he suceeded because books don't yell at you if you're moving along too slow, "Now, Hayate, it is to my understanding that if you show improvment today you'll go on a simple mission tomorrow night. Am I correct?"  
  
    "If my father keeps his word, yes sir. You are correct," Hayate looked nervous about it. The thought of failure was distinct in his mind.  
  
    "You're nervous, aren't you?" Hayate nodded in reply, "Well, you should have nothing to worry about. Your father has good judgement, he wouldn't let you go unless he was positively sure that you could make it out alive."  
  
    Hayate nodded and the old man stood up, "Come, we have to venture out to the forest for this training excersize. Today we will test your ability to use Kai. The mountaintop is very frigid and if you can control your bodily functions, you will come out just fine."  
  
    The two stood up and followed the old man outside and Mari headed home as she was instructed by Mr. Kyuu. He looked at Hayate, "Hayate, you will be training until dawn the following day to better prepare for you mission. Then you will go to your father's and spend the rest of the dya with your cousin. Erikku, you will be dismissed at the regular time. Six hours after we reach the top."  
  
    The present time was eleven in the morning and the two trainees were beginning to feel more invigorated as they headed up the mountain until halfway up, when they began to grow tired. Their teacher pressed on, and seemed to lose no energy at all. Erikku looked over at Hayate, "This is going to be a long lesson. Especially for you."  
  
    "Shut up."  
  


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    Hayate shivered in the cold as he saw his accomplice leave down the mountain, "L-L-Lucky b-b-astard," he instantly wanted to punch himself, knowing that Erikku had indeed lost his father to death.  
  
    "Watch your language, child. Such vileness leads you down the wrong path. Besides, Erikku will be even further behind in his Kuji-in training while you may catch up to the level you should be at," Kyuu stood up and walked to the edge and watched Erikku's decent, "Now, if you were actually making any progress, you shouldn't be feeling the cold."  
  
    "This stinks, why couldn't you pick something else?" Hayate rubbed his hands together as a futile attempt to warm himself, "Did you bring any food?"  
  
    "No, controlling bodily funtions includes eliminating the need for hunger," Kyuu seemed as if he was sitting in front of a warm fire, "Hayate, your destiny shall begin to unfold during your next mission. The very reason you live might very likely be revealed to you."  
  
    "Yeah, that's what my father said."  
  
    "I told that to your father. Otherwise he wouldn't let you go until your twentieth birthday," the elder sat down in front of Hayate, "Now Hayate, concentrate. Use your will to survive this. Make sure you've used the correct hand symbol."  
  
    Hayate closed his eyes and moved his hands and fingers into the same formation as his teachers. His breathing became slower and calmed, "Good, good Hayate. How do you feel?"  
  
    "I feel... warm," Hayate was concentrating on the spell so hard he seemed in a trance.  
  
    "Good, Hayate. Keep it up until midnight, and we can head home," Kyuu seemed glad to see that they'd be leaving soon.  
  
    "Thank you, sir."  
  
    "Remember, with enough practice you can use this and it will stay in effect for a long amount of time and you would be able to use it with much less effort," the elder smiled, "Tomorrow night, Hayate, will be your first mission."  
  


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    Ayane sat down, holding the gash in her forehead as Ryu looked through the cabinets for some bandages. He came back shortly and took the spot next to her and began to unroll the white cloth, "It's a good thing you didn't fight back. You could have gotten in more trouble."  
  
    "It would have been worth it," she turned away from him so that he could wrap the bandages around her head, "As long as I could've gotten back at them."   
    "No it wouldn't. They'd get mad at you and come back every day to do the same thing again and again," Ryu finished up and cut the end with his knife, "Then eventually, they'd get tired of you fighting back and would probably kill you."  
  
    "Don't be stupid, Ryu. They wouldn't go that far."  
  
    "Well then, how far do you think they'd go?" Ryu took her silence as an uncertain answer, "Beleive me, you don't want to know."  
  
    "Well, they wouldn't do anything more than cut me," Ayane was sure that what she had said was true.  
  
    Ryu went back into the other room, "Ayane, just don't yell and insult back at them anymore, it'll make your life much easier."  
  
    "What do I do then? Just walk by when everyone says that I'm living proof that my mother is a whore?" Ayane felt tears run down her cheeks as her vison blurred.  
  
    Ryu sat down next to her and shook his head, "Don't cry. You know that it's not true. Radiou... you know what Radiou did. That's why he was banished."  
  
    "So, only a few of us know that. And it hurts to know that I am... this, a child of rape. It hurts to think about the horror my mother went through, the pain she experienced when she found out that she was pregnant with me, and thoughts linger inside my head that maybe some of them are right, that my mother enjoyed it and went on with it after a little while so that it theoretically wouldn't have been rape."  
  
    "Ayane, that isn't a possibility."  
  
    "Yes it is, Ryu. And you know it."  
  
    "Listen, I lost my father a few months ago, and I'm going through a lot of pain too, I-"  
  
    "So that is something that you can get over with in time! My problem has been with me my whole life! Every day is the same, I show my face in publc, I get teased and my mother does too! Shinden won't accept me nor is he certain about what had happened to my mother. And she is always sad because she loves Shinden so much, and he can't show any feelings in return. Shinden thinks that Ayame actually went to him and... it happened."  
  
    "No, everyone knows that your mother was drugged by him."  
  
    "Yeah, everyone used to know that. Then other rumors started to pop up and the truth became just another rumor. Even I beleive that it could just be a lie."  
  
    "I'm sure that in time, you'll get over it."  
  
    Ayane looked at him and wiped some of her tears off onto her sleeve, "No, I can't. Hayate and you are the only ones who accept me. Everyone else teases me, or just looks at me weird when I pass by. And Kasumi... Kasumi is worst of all. She teases me the most and she's my older sister. I'd give almost anything to have her be my best friend, the one who looks out for me, the one who sticks up for me, the one who can help me through this. But no, she has to be like this."  
  
    "Ayane, she is just concerend with her mother's reputation and her father's happiness. You know that since then, they've never been happy."  
  
    "And it's all my fault..." she whispered.  
  
    "No it's not, it's Radiou's."  
  
    "And I'm a reminder of what that asshole did."  
  
    "Ayane, don't talk like that, like it or not, he's your father."  
  
    Ayane's eyes grew wide at this statement, "No, he's not. He didn't raise me. Neither is Shinden. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a father, so what everyone says is true, I am a bastard. Say it Ryu, you're thinking it just as much as everyone else."  
  
    "No I'm not, Ayane. I would never think like that."  
  
    Ayane looked away from him, ashamed that she would even accuse him of that, "I'm sorry. It's just... I can't bear to live like this another day. I need to get away from everyone and everything. I need to be somewhere that I can escape all of this."  
  
    "You can spend the night here or at one of your friend's house."  
  
    "I don't have any friends and it would be innapropriate to stay here with you."  
  
    "What about Yuuna?"  
  
    "I can tell that she's uncertain about what to beleive and that's good enough to make me not want to be there, even though she is one of my only friends. Besides, one of her little brother's is such a brat. He'll say things without much thinking and will hurt people without even knowing it," Ayane laid down, resting her head in his lap, "It's alright, I can deal with another night in the mansion."  
  
    "I hope so."  
  


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    Night had fallen by the time Erikku had reached the village he called home. He felt sorry for Hayate for having to be up there but wanted to laugh at it at the same time. He made his way to the Anyarei household. Once the cabin was in view, he could see the light on in Yuuna's room so he decided to collect his payment since he had no home to go to and she probably had nothing better to do.  
  
    He knocked on the window of her room and a few seconds later, she had opened it and handed him the money her father had given her for the burn antidote, "Go to the front door, I'll let you in."  
  
    He went around to the front to find the door open already. He went in and looked for Yuuna in the kitchen, making tea, "Father said you'd come right after training. Since it's so late, I'd bet you haven't eaten."  
  
    "No, I havent," the two stayed in complete silence until Yuuna brought the pot of tea and two cups to the table.  
  
    She took one and poured it for herself, "So how'd it go?"  
  
    "Not too well, I didn't really learn much. I was too busy thinking about the cold to concentrate," he took a sip of the hot tea, "Feels good to have something warm."  
  
    Yuuna handed him a peice of bread, "I know we don't have much, but I haven't been able to get out of the house and go to the market to get fish, meat, or vegetables."  
  
    "So, why haven't you asked me to go get anything for you? I'll do it."  
  
    "I just didn't really want to impose on you to do things for me."  
  
    "No, problem. I don't have a family to do chores for of my own, why not do some for yours?"  
  
    Yuuna was sorry everytime that she brought up a topic that eventually lead to talk about his parents, she beleived that it would be better for him to forget about them, "Sorry. I forgot about that. It must be very lonely for you at night... maybe you should stay here tonight. I insist."  
  
    "It's alright, Yuuna. I'm used to it," he got up to leave, "See you tomorrow."  
  
    Yuuna took his hand and pulled him back down to his chair, "I insist, besideds, my parents won't be back until tomorrow at around nine. So we'll have room."  
  
    "But where would I sleep? I really won't feel comfortable here."  
  
    "My room."  
  
    "Umm, Yuuna..."  
  
    "Let me finish, I'll sleep in my parent's room."  
  
    "No, Yuuna. It's alright, I can last a night in my house by myself," he smiled, "I'm a big boy now."  
  
    Yuuna laughed, "Fine, just come here in the morning then, okay?"  
  
    "Fine," he turned to leave, "Before I forget, do you want to come with me and Ryu tomorrow? We're going up the mountain to go fishing. Since your parents are watching the kids tomorrow, why don't you come?"  
  
    "Sure, I'll come," she got up and walked back to her room, "I'll see you tomorrow morning."  
  
    Erikku watched her as she walked away, admiring how her nightgown hugged her figure perfectly. He shook it off after he figured out what he was doing and headed out the door to his empty home above the poison shop.  
  


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    Hayate stood next to his cousin, Midori, half asleep and waiting for their mission breifing. Shinden walked into the room with a small bottle of what looked like rock flakes, "I ordered this poison from Erikku a few weeks ago. They are small peices of a highly toxic mushroom that he calls amanita phalloides. All you have to do is slip it into a soup and thr family members will eat it and perish."  
  
    "Father, may I ask who our assignment is?"  
  
    "The Sorai family again. A few relatives of theirs are also coming to visit. The patriarch's youngest daughter, her husband, and their daughter. They will be eliminated also. Midori, you will slip the mushrooms into their soup and Hayate, you will put scorpions into the beds of the family."  
  
    The two cousins replyed in unison, "Yes sir."  
  
    "Now, I know you two are rivals and bicker a lot," Shinden released a hearty chuckle, "But you two need to learn to work together as a team, that is why despite that fact that, you Midori, are not finished with your training, I have assigned this to you. You two will spend the day working together and planning this out for yourselves."  
  
    Midori looked at her cousin and feigned a smile, "Yes sir."  
  


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**A.N.**- R/R, put up OC's. Hope you like this so far. 


	3. Another Loss

**A.N.**- Sorry for the wait. I was going to say something about how I wouldn't get much reviews, but I'm happy now, eight reviews in one chapter. Thanks to you all.  
  
**Wolf Runner**- True, the ninja's main weapon is not their sword. It is their secondary. But their main weapon is their mind, not their stealth. Their tanto is a tool that can be used as a weapon. The samurai's code is called the _Bushido_ which makes it so that they cannot run from a battle, they cannot disgrace their lord, and they have to live by the sword and die by the sword. And I guess that the extra Kuji-in that you say I've written was the part that Hayate was training in. That is a form of Kai which can control bodily functions such as feeling, body heat, hunger, thirst, etc. Thanks for reveiwing.  
  
**Zeshin Hayabusa**- Well, with much thought, I've decided to use Wolf's character. Sorry, man, but his was just a little more diverse. Also, you could have used another sword called the ninjato, which is the basic ninja sword. Please continue to R/R anyways. And thanks for putting me, and all my DOA fics in your favorites.  
  
**Forevermore**- Well, I picked Midori off the bat because I needed a way for Hayate to reach a certain place (can't really say without giving it away) so that's why I used her. She'll play a very important part. I already kinda figured Midori's additude and of course, Hitomi will show up later. I'm glad you like Erikku and Yuuna. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Ninja**- I don't really see a problem with the ages myself. Nor did I think there would be any. Besideds, like I said that's why it's an AU fic.  
  
**digininga**- Thanks. And writing fan fiction is a rough process. I, personally started out with crappy fics with little detail and knowlege about what category I wrote for. I got a few good reviews, probably out of pity. It really depends on what kind of person you are. If you read a lot, then you probably would do good. I don't read at all, that's probably why I couldn't write at all. I personally am never satisfied with my own writing, and that's because I've seen much better. That's how it might always be. But if you want to start writing, by all means, go for it. Just remember, it might be a rough start (unless you have a rare, extrordinary talent), just don't get discouraged. Christie died because I don't really like happy endings. I would have made Natsu die too, but... you know... that's just cruel, she's five. And of course this is going to be a Hitomi/Hayate coupling. What else would I do?  
  
**Saiyan Warrior Princess**- I would have chosed your charater, I just didn't see it until this chapter was almost done. Sorry, but thanks for the review. Like I said earlier, I can't handle too many characters so I can't.  
  
**Added info**:A ninja could look into a cat's eyes to tell approximately what time it was. If the pupil was shaped like a ball, it was 6:00am/pm. If it was shaped like an egg, it was 8:00pm/4:00am. If the pupil was shaped like a seed, it was 10:00 pm/2:00am. And lastly, if it was shaped like a needle, then it was 12:00am/pm.  
**New Characters**:  
  
**Tai Shikadachi**- Raised from a family that has a reputation for striving to be the best in combat, Tai is determined to beat his friend Hayate in a sparring match and claim his title as the best fighter among the newer ninjas. In battle against an enemy, he fights with the same ferocity as Erikku but he knows that stealth is always top priority.  
Age: 16  
Hair: Brown, usually covered  
Eyes: Green  
Preferred Weaponry: Ninjato/Tanto  
Kuji-in: Hei/Sha/Zen/Kai/Rin  
  


* * *

  


**???**

Chapter 2

_By: Joey/Mai fan15_

  


* * *

  
    Erikku dragged his kusari-gama by it's chain over to the bank of the mountain stream and sat down, cooling his feet from the long hike up the rocks. He heard the clang of Ryu's yari as he started on the fire.  
  
    He didn't know why they had to leave so early, the sun hadn't even risen yet. Even after the hour long climb, there was only a faint blue aura over the horizon, signaling that the sun would rise soon. Yuuna's cat walked by and it's eyes stated that it was only about five or six in the morning.  
  
    He yawned and sat back against a rock that was behind him. He glanced around the rock to see that Ryu finish up on building the fire and pick up his fishing pole. Heero, who had come along for the sole purpouse of protection, neared the fire to keep it going. He hadn't wanted to come because he knew full well that the four others could protect themselves easily, but Shinden insisted.  
  
    Ryu had talked Ayane into coming along, possibly saving her from another beating. Strange how she suffered so many cuts and bruises, she still looked immaculate. The bandage around her forehead had been removed and the cut was only covered by her long bangs. She looked deep in thought, probably thinking about her life again. Thinking about what she thinks is the pain she's caused everyone.  
  
    Erikku's feet finally felt at ease again, and he got up and walked over to the fire that, for the next few minutes, was their only light. He sat down on a rock near a friend of Ryu's, Tai Shikadachi. He looked over at the younger fighter and became angry with himself for not becoming a ninja by now when Tai, who was a year younger, already had.  
  
    Erikku threw his weapon toward the pile that consisted of everyone else's, "Hayate's done with his training now. When he gets back tonight, are you going to spar with him or wait until morning?"  
  
    "No, I think I'll wait until tomorrow so that we're both fully rested."  
  
    "Why do you want to fight him anyway?"  
  
    Tai looked at him, confused why the answer wasn't obvious, "Because he's the best fighter in the clan. No one's ever beaten him. And he's only beaten me by a little bit, so why not try to become the best?"  
  
    "You could fight me. Hayate and I have fought for over three hours before deciding on a draw. I've never beaten him and he's never beaten me," he cracked his knuckles, "Besides, I'd bet I could beat him. He always makes the offer for a draw."  
  
    "I don't know. I'm a little more used to fighting Hayate. Besides, he's one of my best friends. I can trust for him to give it his all."  
  
    Erikku scoffed, "You don't think I will?"  
  
    "No that's not it at all. It's just, I'm used to fighting him, I know every move he'll make and he knows every move I will. That way it'll be a good fight."  
  
    "No, it'll be a long, cheap fight that results in a draw," Erikku let out a short, half-hearted laugh, "In fact, that's the very reason Hayate and I could never figure a winner."  
  
    "Well that's you two. I've been thinking in a whole different way since our last match. If anything, my style has changed a lot. Hayate won't expect what I'll do, giving me an advantage."  
  
    "You're a smart one, Tai," Erikku shook his head, "Even if you are cheap."  
  
    "I'm not, cheap. Just smart. Like you said."  
  
    "You may get the title, but you know it won't be true, you'll have to beat Hayate and me. And just because you beat Haytate doesn't mean you can beat me."  
  
    "I know that. But first, I need to beat Hayate."  
  
    "How come not me first? Get the harder match over with."  
  
    "Because at least I'll have one down. Then I'll train a little and fight you."  
  
    "Then train first, that way you'll beat Hayate with no problem," Erikku offered, "And fight me first because if you beat me, someone who you know nothing about, then you'll surely beat Hayate since you know how he fights."  
  
    "Well, there's no changing my mind. It's set, Hayate and I spar tomorrow in our combat training class. Besideds, you have a shop to run," Tai didn't really know how Erikku fought, and to put such a title on the line to fight a new opponent would be foolish.  
  
    Erikku didn't respond and ran his hands through his hair as he stood up. He made his way over to the edge of the stream again and could fainitly see a few fish due to the lack of light and thought to himself why sitting here and waiting for a fish to stupidly bite a hook with bait on it would be fun. He waded through the stream to a rock face where Yuuna had dissapeared to when they had gotten there.  
  
    He found her at the edge of a rock formation, letting her feet dangle off the cliff. She took notice of his presance and patted the spot next to her, telling him to sit down. He did as he was told, "It must be great to be out here for you. Especially because it's almost been a year since you've been able to do something like this. I can't even imagine how good this must feel to you, getting something you've wanted for so long."  
  
    Yuuna smiled warmly at him, "Yeah, it feels great. But it still falls short of what I truly want. It doesn't matter, that too will hopefully come within time."  
  
    "Wish we didn't have to get up so early though."  
  
    Yuuna nodded in agreement, "I was lucky that my parents arrived the same time you did, otherwise I couldn't have come, and I'd hate that. Taking care of all my brothers and sisters is very tiring."  
  
    "I'm glad I have no one to take care of."  
  
    Silecne fell between the two, Erikku had nothing more to say. Feeling uncomfortable by the quiet atmosphere, Yuuna decided that it'd be better to find out what he felt on his parent's death, "Erikku?"  
  
    "Yeah?"  
  
    "Do you ever get... lonely?"  
  
    Erikku frowned, "What do you mean?"  
  
    "I mean, you don't have any living relatives. How can you sleep at night when it's always quiet? Don't you ever get lonely?"  
  
    Erikku shrugged, "I've gotten used to it. Besides, I have good friends."  
  
    "But that shouldn't be enough. You should ask Shinden for a room in that huge mansion of his. He'd surely let you, especially because your parents were the best ninjas he had. I don't know how you or Ayane can really live. She's just as alone as you are."  
  
    "Like I said, when you're alone as long as Ayane and I have been, you get used to it. Sure you want friends and parents, anyone to be at your side, but you deal with it. It makes me stronger, it would make anyone stronger. It helps us become independant."  
  
    The two stayed quiet again, letting the words sink in as the sun rose over the horizon. Yuuna looked at him softly, "So... you don't need anyone?"  
  
    "I never said that," she leaned into him, somewhat sleepily from waking up so early, but was unexpectedly pulled closer, "I do need friends."  
  
    Yuuna became perfectly still, nervous that she would ruin the moment, and partly because she was nervous. Everything was slilent again except for the echoes of the others on the other side of the rock formation. Erikku yawned and let go of her then stood up and made his way back to the other side, "We're going to be here all day, I need just a few more hours of sleep."  
  
    Yuuna nodded and turned back to the sunrise. Once she was sure he was gone, she shivered and wrapped her own arms around herself in disbeleif that what just happened was over.  
  


* * *

  
    Ryu dropped his fishing pole near the campfire again where a few fish were being cooked in the fire. Aside from Heero, he was the only one still awake or at least the only one who looked awake. He walked over to the other end of the stream and noticed something in the distance. He whispered for Heero and he walked over, "See that?"  
  
    It took him a few seconds, but he saw what Ryu was pointing out, "Yeah."  
  
    "Do you know what it is?"  
  
    Heero stepped forward a little bit and squinted out towards the movement, "Looks like some shogun or samurai. Probably on their way to a new family's home to start their guard duty. Wait, there's a carrige down there on the path. Oh, that must be the Sorai's daughter and her family. That's Hayate's and Midori's target.  
  
    "Do you think we should, maybe leave? What if they come up here?"  
  
    "They shouldn't. The Sorai's masion is south from where they are, unless they decide to go west from here, we should be fine."  
  
    "Okay, but what if they see us? We are standing rather close to the edge."  
  
    "They won't look up here. Even if they did, I'd have them all dead before they got here," Heero gripped the Fukiya in his hand, overconfident in the damage he could do with the peice of hollowed bamboo.  
  
    "Whatever you say," Ryu sighed and went back to pick up his fishing pole.  
  


* * *

  
    Hayate looked around the side of the tree that he was hiding behind. The group of samurai and their shogun were listening to the old man yell at them again, only this time there was no point to it other than telling them things that they already knew. Hayate almost laughed.  
  
    Midori who was a few feet away, sitting in a tree, clutched the vile of the poisonous mushrooms in her left hand. Last minute changes had been made and she was going in while Hayate stayed back and provided some protection with his longbow. If anyone were to come to the kitchen while Midori was in there, an arrow would stop them. Sure, if it was a chef, then the mission would fail since that would arise suspicion, but it was better than losing a ninja.  
  
    She jumped down from the tree, letting her weight sink down with her movement as to not make too much noise. Anything that might have been accidentaly heard was covered up by the caged cricket that Hayate held at his belt. She stayed still, listening for any signs that they had detected her and made her way to Hayate, "Be alert, okay? It's my ass that's going to be on the line, and I know you can't hit anything with an arrow worth shit. So if I get caught, trust me you'll regret it."  
  
    "How? You'll be dead."  
  
    "And I'm sure you'd love that," Midori took an arrow from his quiver and roughly handed it to him. He would have fallen from his kneeling position, but she caught him so that he wouldn't make a sound.  
  
    Hayate was pulled back into balance where he tore her arm away, "Yeah, I'd really like to tell Shinden why his neice is dead any why the mission was a failure."  
  
    The two turned their attention back to the samurai. They watched as a carrige pulled up and some more samurai and shogun followed. They all greeted eachother without moving from their protective spots around the carrige. Now a few of the family's servants came out from behind the family members and took the luggage from the passengers and went back into the large mansion.  
  
    Hayate watched as a rugged looking European man stepped out. He had whitish hair with gray tinge, it was spiked up as was Heero's, but not waved down at the tips. He had bulging mucles that showed vividly even through the long-sleeved tuxedo he wore. He reached back into the carrige and took someone's hand.  
  
    A woman around that muscular man's age stepped out with help from him. That must have been Naemi Cristobal, the youngest daughter of the family. In that case that man should be her German husband, Dietdrich Cristobal. Hayate had never seen a German before, but if they all looked anything like he did, he wished he never would.  
  
    He again turned his attention to the woman. She was wearing a European-style dress, and wasn't wearing the pailing makeup that the wealthy Japanese women wore during special occasions. Her father, the old man came over and hugged her, mumbling something about how it had been so many years since he had last seen her.  
  
    A third passenger, shorted than the other two, also in a European dress was escorted straight into the mansion, Hayate never had gotten a good look at her but knew that it had to be Naemi and Dietdrich's daughter. The whole family, finally reunited, followed behind her and the samurai disenbanded to their posts. Some went in, others carrited their lanterns with them to their outdoor posts. Midori faintly laughed, "Almost feel sorry for them, ruining this happy reunion of theirs. Especially for their daughter, she looks to be around our age. Oh well, everyone has to die sometime. Hope these mushrooms work slowly."  
  
    Hayate shook his head and inserted the slit in the arrow into the string of his bow, "Hurry up and put those mushrooms in, I want to get this over with."  
  
    "Whatever you say," she had a smile on her face, which Hayate found hard to beleive. She was actually going to enjoy this. Hayate just wanted them dead so that he could have sucessfully completed his first mission.  
  
    He looked around for Midori then dismissed it, realizing that she must have gone around the other way to avoid some samurai. He kept his bow loaded, once in a while pulling the arrow back as someone neared the kitchen.  
  
    Hayate counted the samurai and in about a half hour ended up with only thirty-six. He knew fifteen of the Sorai's and thirty new ones issued to the Cristobal's were wandering the premisise somewhere, and he had counted seven go inside, then there were two missing. Maybe he had miscounted. He started to count again, wondering what was taking Midori so long then realized that the kitchen, which was seperate from the house, showed no movement from there to the house. Maybe the chef was still inside and she was waiting for them.  
  
    He suddenly heard a noise from behind him, like a whistle. He started turning around to face the source but before he could fully turn, the flat side of a blade hit him across the face. He fell to the ground, his vision slowly blacking out.  
  


* * *

  
    The sun had set a long time ago as the group neared their village, mostly relaxed by the long day. Ryu started walking slower and eventually was walking next to Ayane, "Feeling any better?"  
  
    "A little, but I know that Kasumi is going to give me a hard time as soon as I get back. I'm just going to wait at the front for Hayate and ask him to take me to my room, Kasumi would never make fun of me around him."  
  
    "Why don't you tell Hayate? He'd make her stop."  
  
    Ayane looked over at him and bit her lip, "Because she's my sister, I don't want to tell on her because it will ruin any chance that I have to have a caring older sister."  
  
    "Why do you want her to be your friend so badly when she treats you like dirt? You have Hayate, you have me."  
  
    "Becasuse there are things that I need to talk about that I can't talk to guys about. It's stressful," Ayane gestured to Yuuna with an open palm, "Yuuna has four sisters and three brothers. That's why she's so happy all the time. She has someone to talk to no matter what the situation."  
  
    "Ayane, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Don't get me wrong, Kasumi is a great friend of mine, but sometimes she can be a complete..."  
  
    Ayane answered for him, "Bitch?"  
  
    "Umm, I would say brat, but that's basically along the same lines..."  
  
    The group arrived in the village and Erikku left them first, then Heero. One of Yuuna's younger brothers who was fetching water rather late called her over for help. Tai eventually left for his own home around the time Ryu and Ayane neared her home, "You'll be alright?"  
  
    "Yeah, Hayate should be here soon," Ayane looked out to the right and could faintly see Midori in the distance, "I can see them from here."  
  
    Ryu yawned, "Okay, I'm going home now, I'm tired. Goodnight."  
  
    A few minutes after Ryu had gone, Midori had arrived at the door and began to open it when Ayane got up, "Where's Hayate?"  
  
    Midori scoffed and threw the empty vile to her, "Big brother didn't make it."  
  
    Ayane sunk back into sitting, eyes wide. She couldn't beleive it, one of the two people who actually cared about her was gone. The one who cared about her the most, "Hayate..."  
  


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**A.N.**- I really hope you like this chapter. Please R/R. And remember, there is no more open spaces for an OC. If either of those who had a character that I used want me to change something, just tell me. And sorry to those who didn't get one in, hopy you still review. And sorry to Wolf Runner if you feel that Tai had too little time in the story, but don't worry, he'll have more appearance in the next chapter. 


	4. The Future is Destined to Repeat Itself

**A.N.**- The characters are all speaking Japanese, but it's just translated for everyone just incase... and because I don't know it that well either. Oh, and again, a review didn't show up, so thanks to whoever it was.  
  
**Zeshin Hayabusa**- Like I said before, man. This is an AU fic, so their personalities change too.  
  
**digininga**- Okay, I sent you an email about the fanficton. Tell me if you got it.  
  
**Wolf Runner**- Thanks man, and the reason why Midori made it back will be included in this chapter.  
  
**SilverLocke980**- Thanks. But no, the ninjas weren't always cold-hearted, or brave for that matter. But during a mission, that's what they had to be like, any show of compassion would result in failure. The ninjas were usually farmers, outcasts, and radicals that rebeled against the government of Old Japan and would put themselves up for hire as an assassin. The Japanese government had a few ninjas that worked for them also. Like I said earlier, I'm not taking any more OC's because I can't work with that much. But it was a good suggestion and I might have chosen it had you submitted earlier, sorry. But please continue to reveiw.  
  
**Saiyan Warrior Princess**- Thanks for reviewing. This is my first time dealing with original characters and I imagined that it was harder than dealing with characters that were alredy in the game or anime and I've dealt with too many characters before. Thanks again.  
  


* * *

  


**???**

  


???

  


_By: Joey/Mai fan15 aka Hitomi/Hayate fan aka Spider_

  


* * *

  
    Hayate awoke and took his hand to his forehead, it ached more than anything he'd ever felt before. His had touched a wet object and his eyes shot open as he pulled off a wet rag and threw it to the floor. He soon came to realize that he had been caputred the night before. Why hadn't they killed him? Don't they know that if Midori made it back and told the bad news to Shinden, he'd send an army and kill everyone?  
  
    The door opened and he shot up into a sitting position, the girl that entered gasped then regained her breath, "Oh... you scared me. So you're okay now?"  
  
    Hayate looked at her, dumbfounded. Wasn't she sacred, she did have someone who's supposed to kill her in her bed right now, but he didn't realise that she didn't know that, "How did you find me?"  
  
    "I went for a walk alone this morning and found you lying in the grass," she set down a tray on the nightstand to his left, "You should probably eat, seeing as how you fainted out there."  
  
    He was about to tell her how he didn't faint and he was caught, but decided that he was safer this way. Hayate picked out a biscut, pulled of a peice, and stuffed it into his mouth, "So, how long have I been out?"  
  
    "Well, since I found you, it's been a little over two hours I think," she turned to the window, "You must have hit a rock when you fell, you have a bruise on your forehead."  
  
    Hayate touched his forehead to feel a slight pain, telling him where the bruise was, "You don't look Japanese, how come you can speak it?"  
  
    "I'm half, and my mother taught me Japanese. I know it just as well as German."  
  
    Hayate nodded and took another bite, "Are you hungry?"  
  
    She smiled at him, "No, but thanks for offering. I already ate."  
  
    A knock on the door startled the two and she went to open it. Hayate swiftly got up and stopped her, putting a hand over her mouth just incase, her eyes widened at this, then whispered into her ear. She shivered at having him so close, "They can't find me. Please, you have to hide me."  
  
    A knock on the door came again, "Hitomi, darling. Would you come and join us downstairs? We still havent properly introduced you to the rest of your family yet."  
  
    The girl, now identified as Hitomi, looked back up at him and gently pulled his hand down, "Okay, go get under the bed."  
  
    He nodded and, in an instant, was under the bed being as silent as possible. Hitomi opened the door, letting her mother in, "I'll come down later. I really don't feel like it right now."  
  
    "That's what you said last night. You will come downstairs now."  
  
    "Fine, I'll be down in a few minutes," her mother walked out, closing the door behind herself. As soon as it was closed, Hitomi locked it and told Hayate to get out from under the bed, "I have to go downstairs soon so unless you want to stay here for a while longer, you are free to get on with your travels. Just take this bag and bring some of this food with you."  
  
    "Thank you," she hugged him, convinced that he would leave, then headed downstairs. Hayate took another biscut from the plate and took a bite. He had noticed earlier that he had a pain in his right ankle when he stopped her, it was probably sprained. There was nothing he could do but wait a while for it to heal.  
  


* * *

  
    Ayane sat next to Midori and Kasumi, watching as her father raved to a few of his ninjas, "My son is dead, we have to kill all of them as revenge."  
  
    "Sir, if you will," Shinden nodded and the ninja continued, "Such an act of agression would certainly cause an all out war. The family's samurai will be commanded to come here as a counter attack along with other hired clans. We'll be wiped out for sure. Besides, we don't know that he's dead."  
  
    "Yes we do, Midori told me that she saw a sword being driven through him with her own eyes."  
  
    "I'm sorry sir, but I strongly suggest that we do not go through with that plan."  
  
    Another one of the ninja's pulled up a chair behind Shinden and told him to sit, "You aren't thinking rationally because your son's dead. And that's reasonable. But for a while, I suggest that you either forget about this, or turn over all command duties to someone else and just adivse their desicions."  
  
    Shinden ran a hand over his face, wiping away the sweat caused by anger, "Fine, I'll pass duties to Aiko. Just make sure he does nothing without my approval. I am still in command, he is just making suggestions that will be judged by me."  
  
    "Of course."  
  
    "But I want my son's death to be avenged. The mission was a failure, so it was already in vain."  
  
    Ayane looked over at Midori, wondering why the mission failed if she had brought back an empty vile. She also was the one who told Shinden that it was a failure, so she wouldn't have dumped them somewhere to hide her own faults.  
  
    Shinden stood up, "Children, please leave now. I need some time alone."  
  
    The three walked out as they were told and Ayane followed Midori and Kasumi went her own way, obviously upset about what had happened the night before, "What did the mission go like, why did it fail?"  
  
    "I guess that Hayate made too much noise while he was in the bushes," she shrugged, "He always was an ametuer. Anyway, I heard a whistle while I was in the kitchen, so I accidentally spilled the mushroom flakes all over the floor and got out of there as soon as I could. I never really looked for Hayate, he was on his own to get out of there. Too bad he didn't, I glanced to the side when I was running and saw a samurai take his sword out of Hayate."  
  
    "So you spilled them?"  
  
    "Yeah, but it didn't fail because of me. If Hayate had been more quiet, then I wouldn't have had to drop them to run," Midori put the vile in a pouch that was at her waist, "Now, I have to go return this to Erikku."  
  
    "Wait, why didn't you go after the samurai that killed him? I know I would have."  
  
    "I'm not stupid like you, that's why. Why would I try to kill someone that has better weapons, better skills, and more numbers just because they killed that dumbass. It was his fault he died, so he deserved it."  
  
    Ayane wanted to punch her in the gut before she said another word, but remembered what Ryu said, not to provoke any violence because it would just come back later, just against her, "So you don't feel any guilt whatsoever?"  
  
    "Uhh... no. Like I said, it was his own stupidity. Besides, this is an advantage to me. Hayate's dead so Kasumi would be training for clan leader, right? Well since she stated that she didn't want that, that would leave you, right?" Midori smirked at her, enjoying the words she was about to say, "Wrong, your father hates you, he'd never let you become clan leader. So that leaves me, Shinden's only neice. Plus, since my father is going to take over duties until Shinden is in his right mind again, I can start my studies later today."  
  
    Ayane knew what she said was the truth. Shinden never treated her like a daughter, but he also never treated her like dirt either, at least she had that, "So you're happy about this?"  
  
    "Yeah, whatever gets me ahead. I don't really give a shit about anyone else, as long as I get ahead."  
  
    Ayane shook her head, "You're never going to have friends, you know that?"  
  
    Midori walked off, "Well then I'll be just like you, won't I?"  
  


* * *

  
    Hayate sat upright in the large bed, he looked to his left, then his right wondering why such a huge bed was required for such a small person. He was convinced that the rich just wanted to throw their money around and buy stuff like... this. He laid back, "God I wish I had enough money for this."  
  
    The door opened and closed, Hayate looked up at Hitomi as she walked through, "Oh, you're still here."  
  
    "You wanted me to leave?"  
  
    "Well, no. I don't really have any friends here, and I'm not going to make any because my family prevents me from having any other contact with the other families, something about ninjas trying to kill us. I wonder what one of them looks like."  
  
    "Me too," he bluffed.  
  
    She sat down, "Do you need anything else?"  
  
    "No, why?"  
  
    "Well, you're still here... so you must need something... right?"  
  
    Hayate pulled the blanket off his foot, "It hurts."  
  
    "Oh, then you probably should stay here for a while. How long do you think it'll be?" she looked at the ankle which was swelled.  
  
    "I'll leave tomorrow morning, if it heals or not. I don't want to intrude."  
  
    "No, no, it's alright. I enjoy having you here. Like I said, I don't have any friends here yet."  
  
    "Still.. it's dangerous for me to be here."  
  
    Hitomi looked at him with a confused expression on her face, "What are you talking about? My family is charitable, they would help you get back on your feet, not kill you. Why would they kill a homeless child?"  
  
    "I..." Hayate again was about to let the truth slip out, but abruptly stopped himself, "Well, I'm leaving tomorrow. I have to meet someone somewhere."  
  
    "Fine, like I said, take some food with you. Money too if you need it," she sat down at the vanity table and started brushing her hair, obviously she was bored, "Just promise me one thing."  
  
    "What's that?" he managed to speak through a mouthfull of food.  
  
    "Visit me once in a while. At least until I have some new friends. I realize that it probably isn't really convinent for you, but I'd really appreciate it. I'll leave the window open for you during the day since you don't want to be caught."  
  
    Hayate saw her blush through the mirror, "I'll try my best," he didn't really want to come here anymore, it was too much trouble to keep a promise like this, especially because he was supposed to kill her. Then again, being here was a good break from being a ninja.  
  
    "Thank you."  
  
    "How often do you want me to come?"  
  
    "Whenever you want."  
  
    Hayate nodded and laid back into the bed, waiting for the day to finish so he could sleep, then leave the next morning. His father had to be worried about him right now and Mari... Mari would be way too emotional when he would get back. Hayate sighed and picked up a book that Hitomi had put on her nightstand, carefully so he wouldn't remove the peice of lace that provided a bookmark. He began to read, waiting for night to fall so that he could leave.  
  


* * *

  
    Yuuna, Mari, Heero, and Tai were all in Erikku's home above the shop, all greiving in their own ways. The only one who wasn't was Yuuna, who had never known Hayate very well.  
  
    Mari's face was red and tears fell from her brown eyes, then down her pale cheeks where the eventually dropped to the tabi mat. She lowered her head into her hands and began to loudly sob again. Her cousin Heero, who sat next to her, handed her a white peice of cloth, "Calm down... it's alright."  
  
    She had been crying too long to say anything in reply. Her stomach hurt, she felt dizzy, and the combination of the two made her want to vomit. She looked up at him with her sad eyes, then looked back towards the ground. Erikku came up the stairs, "I've closed down the shop. There's no buisness today, Shinden has every ninja in the meeting hall."  
  
    Erikku didn't really care about Hayate's death, he beleived that everyone had their time to die, Hayate's was the night before. Greiving would just make the pain worse, "Why are you all here?"  
  
    "Because my cousin was, and I knew she needed someone to comfort her," Heero spoke up, "Tai just decided to come along, Yuuna was here when I arrived."  
  
    "My parents are still at home, their mission was delayed because of Hayate's death," explained Yuuna, "So I thought I'd come here."  
  
    Erikku sighed, he wanted to drug Mari to make her fall asleep, stop all the noise. Heero, as if sensing what he was thinking, shook his head no. He gestured for Yuuna to come over. They went into the second room, leaving Heero, Tai, and Mari alone again.  
  
    "It's alright, Mari."  
  
    She shook her head no and managed to choke out a few words, "I'll never find... anyone like him."  
  
    "You need to get over it. I know it may be hard, but crying won't do anyhting. You need to be strong," he managed to pry one of his cousin's hands away from her face, the other left on it's own, "You've never cried about anything before, don't let me catch you do it now.  
  
    "I've never lost so much before."  
  
    Tai, feeling like the conversation that had been going on should be between the two cousins, wandered off into the other room where Yuuna and Erikku were. Mari put her head against the window and looked out, but seemed to have an empty stare, "Hayate meant the world to me. When I found out he died, I couldn't bear it. I loved him so much... I still love him."  
  
    "Yes, I know that. But you'll find someone better than him for you. You're a beautiful girl."  
  
    "It doesn't get much better than him," Mari finally came out of her dazed stature, "I hope Shinden does get back at them for what they did."  
  
    "No you don't. Kasumi explained why they can't do that when she came to tell you the bad news, do you want to end up dead too, along with everyone else you love?"  
  
    "At least I'll be with him..."  
  
    "You're willing to die to see him again? You're insane then. One person dies, and you get all dramatic?" Heero couldn't understand what was going through his cousin's head at the time, he thought that it was just an obsession.  
  
    "You don't understand," the three others came back into the room, taking the same spots as they had occupied earlier, "I've loved him since we were four. He loved me too, imagine the pain that was going through his head when he was about to be killed."  
  
    "You don't have to worry about that, Midori said he died before he knew what happened," Erikku spoke up and was lightly punched in the chest by Yuuna.  
  
    "Oh that's really going to help her feel better," she whispered.  
  
    "Listen, Mari, he probably didn't return your feeling to such an absurd extent. For God's sake, he had a lot more on his mind than you," Heero said as he lifted her face.  
  
    "Oh yeah, and that will?" Erikku whispered to Yuuna.  
  
    "How dare you say that, of course Hayate loved me."  
  
    Erikku coughed and the room went silent. He didn't tell her that Hayate hated her, he was dead, there was no harm in it. At least it would keep her a little happier, "Hayate's ceremony is tomorrow. We're all going, right?"  
  
    The group replyed in unison, "Yes."  
  
    "Mari, talk to Shinden about helping out. It'll do you good to know that you helped him rest in peace."  
  


* * *

  
**A.N.**- Ugh... sorry for the long wait. I had a lot to do this week. So... the ending for this chapter was typed in about ten minutes. But no worries, I'll probably be back up to speed after August 15th. So, R/R until then, and thank you again to whoever's review didn't show. 


	5. The Truth is Finally Revealed

**A.N.**- I'm so sorry about the very long wait. Now, I'm starting school (or maybe have started by the time this gets up) so until November 1st updates will be a little speedier, but after Nov. 1 they will be much faster. Maybe back to once a week. I've probably lost a load of reviewers because of this... I hope not though, so please review.  
  
**?????**- Thanks, and yeah, the same thing is bothering me. I just havent found a way to include her. As you've noticed each part is written in third person, but focuses on one person. Such as Erikku, Hayate, Ayane, and Yuuna. It's kind of harder for Kasumi for me, I don't know why. I'll try to fix that as best I can.  
  
**Wolf Runner**- Well, you'll have to read to find out.  
  
**Zeshin Hayabusa**- Thanks for reviewing, please continue to do so.  
  
**digininga**- I'm glad you liked last chapter. And it's alright, it happens all the time. Sorry for the long wait though, you musta thought I was dead.  
  
**OmegaReaper**- Thanks. And yeah, that probably would be awesome, but the only characters who would actually belong would be Taki and Mitsurugi so I won't do that. But I am thinking of doing a Kilik/Seung Mina fic since there is a lack of those. I've only found three of them.  
  


* * *

  


**???**

???

_By: Joey/Mai fan15 aka Hitomi/Hayate fan aka Spider_

  


* * *

  
    Night had fallen and Hitomi laid asleep in her bed. Hayate, on the other hand was still up, sitting against the side. He was ready to leave at any moment. After a few minutes, he stood up and silently made his way to the window and opened it. A cold breeze crept in and he shivered at it, then put one leg out. The girl in the nearby bed shot up and he stayed perfectly still until she had fully awakened and noticed him, "You're leaving now?"  
  
    "Yeah."  
  
    "Don't you need some sleep before you go?" she lit the oil lamp and made her way over to him, "Just until morning."  
  
    "I can't, I have no time."  
  
    "Why? Your friend can't be too far away from here. Whoever it is can wait a few extra hours, can't they?"  
  
    "It's important."  
  
    "They can wait. You need rest, you'll never make it without rest."  
  
    "I can," he stubbornly replied.  
  
    Hitomi gave him a sorrowful look, telling him that she knew that what he had promised was a lie, "Just until morning."  
  
    "Why? There's no point in staying here all night. Besides, they'll find me if I do this in the morning," he moved his second leg out onto the roof, but she caught him.  
  
    "Please?"  
  
    Hayate sighed, "The longer I stay here, the more danger you and your family will be in."  
  
    She laughed, "What are you talking about?"  
  
    "I'm a ninja," telling her the truth was the only way to save her now. She had been too stubborn to let him go without it.  
  
    She backed away from him, eyes wide, "You.. you're supposed to kill me?"  
  
    Hayate nodded. She clutched the bedsheet, then she screamed. Hayate shot back in and covered her mouth, she tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to come, "If I still wanted to kill you I would have. I'm trying to save you now. My father should be furious that I haven't come back."  
  
    Hitomi slowly opened her eyes. He was gone. The window was open and the curtains blew in along with the cold. As she stood there, tears fell down her face and her hair clung to her cheeks from sweat. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, causing her to jump, "Hitomi! Hitomi, are you alright?"  
  
    She unlocked the door and slid it open, "Yes father, I was just having a bad dream."  
  
    "About what?"  
  
    "Ninjas."  
  
    He chuckled, "I told your grandfather not to tell you any stories about them."  
  
    She nodded and got back into her bed. Her father knew she wanted to get back to sleep and left the room. Once he was gone, she sat up in bed, wishing that it was just a dream.  
  


* * *

  
    Kasumi sat upright in the room she shared with her half sister, gazing out the window her the moonlight lit the room. Hayate... he was gone. Gone and never coming back, all because he had failed his mission. She knew that Midori had left out details from her otherwise descriptive story and she wondered what those were.  
  
    She often had nightmares that included everything from sheer bad luck that a samurai had found him to Midori was the one who killed him. These just confused her even more, obscuring everything that her cousin had said and twisting every thought she had around to make it seem like anything could have happened.  
  
    Kasumi's head fell slightly, then shot back up again. She didn't want to fall asleep again, sleep equaled confusion. She looked over at Ayane who was sleeping with her back turned away from her as always. Ryu had told her what she wanted, that she wanted to become friends. These past few days, she had tried to go along with it too. Unfortunatley, it was Ayane's turn to be the one who made matters worse.  
  
    She began to cry again, not for the fact that Ayane had managed to hurt her, but for her brother yet again. Suddenly her door opened and she looked in the direction of the intruder. She smiled brightly and wiped away the tears that were still on her face and stood up, throwing her arms around who had come through. Tears of joy now streamed down her face, "I thought you were dead!"  
  
    "No."  
  
    "But Midori said that she saw you die. With her own eyes."  
  
    "She did?" Hayate knew that she couldn't have seen that, it never happened, "But that never... is Shinden up?"  
  
    "No, he went to sleep early tonight, same with mother," she let go of him and looked straight into his face, "Mari's really upset, you should probably go see her first thing tomorrow morning."  
  
    Hayate, feeling sorry for the young woman decided that it would be the right thing to do as long as he told her that he didn't want to marry her, "Yes, I'll go see her."  
  
    "Everyone's been worried about you."  
  
    "Yes, that's why I'm going to see Midori now."  
  
    Kasumi gestured to the wall to her left, "Midori is in that room. She's moved into the mansion so that she could be more efficient in her training."  
  
    Hayate kissed his sister's forehead, "Go back to sleep, we'll talk in the morning," he headed out the door, then into the other one that was a few feet away.  
  
    Midori was sleeping peacefully on her mat. He walked over and awoke her by shaking her with his foot, "Wake up."  
  
    "What..." she grogilly replied as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Hayate!"  
  
    "Why did you tell everyone I was dead?"  
  
    "Because I thought you were."  
  
    "You thought. Kasumi said that you saw everything. How could that be since none of it happened?"  
  
    "Okay, I admit, I was sure you were dead since I waited about an hour for you. I thought that there was no chance for you to still be alive," she stood up and poked him in the chest, "Then again, you are a dumass, you probably got lost or something."  
  
    Hayate balled his fist but the soft voice of his sister stopped him from doing anything else, "Then why did you tell us all that. Since you weren't sure, you could have let us down a little lighter."  
  
    Midori looked around Hayate, "Listen hon, I really don't care how you felt about it. I was sure he was dead."  
  
    "Kasumi, go back to bed," she backed away from the door and Hayate followed her out, stopping at the door, "We'll talk again tomorrow."  
  


* * *

  
    Tai opened his eyes to see Midori standing over him, candle light shone on her face revealing a grim look. Like something happened and it was his fault. The words finally came, "Hayate is still alive."  
  
    "What?"  
  
    "Hayate's alive, and I think he knows something," she lit his oil lamp, "It's your fault. You said that it was fool proof."  
  
    Reality rushed back into Tai's mind and he realized what she was talking about, "I never said that it was fool proof. There was a large margin for error. We both knew that."  
  
    Silence passed between the two, "I know I made a loud enough sound right before I knocked him out. I whistled as loud as I could."  
  
    "Yes, but maybe the samurai were slacking off, it happens once in a while even though it's against the Bushido."  
  
    "If he finds out the truth, we'll be banished for sure. You might even be put to death."  
  
    Tai grinned, "No, no, no. You will be banished. I had no part in this at all."  
  
    "Yes you did. You gave me the plan. You have inscentive to do it too. You needed Hayate out so that you could be dubbed one of the best young fighters in the clan," Tai's grin faded and she took one of her own, "If anything, you were the mastermind, I was the pawn."  
  
    "It took a lot of pride out of you to say that."  
  
    "No. As long as you keep this a secret and don't tell anyone, you'll stay alive. Telling you the facts has hopefully made you realize that," Midori sat down on the floor next to him.  
  
    He sat up and grabbed a knife by his side, threatening her with it, "It's the right thing to do, who's going to beleive that I wanted to kill Hayate? He's my friend. Besides, there's still Erikku."  
  
    "You didn't know about Erikku. And who's Shinden going to beleive, his neice or someone else? Think about it Tai, you're smart enough... I hope," she still hadn't seen to acknowledge that a knife was pressed to her chest.  
  
    "It was all you not me," Tai seemed to ba panicing, "Leave me out of this."  
  
    "Keep it a secret, it was just as much you as it was me."  
  
    "Shut up, it wasn't me. It was all you! Leave me out of it!" he brought the knife back to thrust it with full force. She caught his fist inches away and twisted it until the knife fell out.  
  
    "Don't tell anyone."  
  
    Tai knew that Midori was way too stubborn to sway to his reasoning, so he went back to being confused, despite admitting that he indeed had a part in it, "How could it have failed?" he seemed to forget that there was chance of failure.  
  
    "I guess no one heard me. I was at fault. But I can't understand how he had survived there the past few days without food or drink. He couldn't have been out that long," she was surprised at herself for admitting such a thing.  
  
    "Yes, that has to be it."  
  
    Midori looked at him, "Oh, so there was no mistake on your part whatsoever."  
  
    "I didn't say that."  
  
    "Yes you did, you said that it was practically all my fault," she shot back.  
  
    "Whatever, the point is Hayate's back and he knows something's up. He's bound to find out sooner or later, no matter if we tell him or not," Midori waited for an answer but finding none, suggested for him, "We could get rid of him, this time we have to be more careful and sure."  
  
    "We were perfectly sure that we had done everything right and it still went completely wrong," Tai abruptly snapped back to the last thing she had said, "Whoa, you want us to try again? Hell no. You can try again, I won't."  
  
    "Fine."  
  
    "I'm not having a part in it."  
  
    "Well if I get caught, you do," she blew out the lamp and the candle, and silently left the room leaving Tai to regret ever agreeing to take the easy way to the top. He laid back down, not caring that he had hit his head rather hard and let out a frustrated sigh.  
  


* * *

  
    A large assortment of flowers, banners, and wooden figures surronded an empty casket with an old sword on top, covering what would be open if there was a body. The young man that it was meant for, Hayate, looked on as some of the servants took it apart. He waited for his cousin who had promised to meet him there after breakfast.  
  
    He felt that there was something that she wasn't telling hin, but had no clue of the actual severity. He was sure that she had just messed up. Thanks to Hitomi he was still alive though, but right now, that was the least of his concern. After a few minutes of watching, his cousin walked up to him, "What did you want to talk about?"  
  
    "Do you even have to ask?"  
  
    "Have you talked to Tai yet?"  
  
    "No? Why?"  
  
    "Just wondering. He said that he wanted to talk to you about something."  
  
    "Oh, okay," Hayate sat down on the stone wall and she did the same, "Your explanation last night seemed off. Something happened, I want to know."  
  
    "Nothing happened. You got caught, that's all."  
  
    "When I was knocked out, it was by a sword. I didn't die, so why would a samurai not kill me? I think that it was you," Hayate whispered the last sentance, just incase he was wrong.  
  
    Midori's eyes widened, "What? How... are you crazy? Why would I try to kill you?"  
  
    "When I went back to Kasumi's room last night, I talked to Ayane. She told us everything that you had said to her. I know."  
  
    "Okay, yes, I want to become clan leader. But I wouldn't kill you for it. As much as I hate you, you're my cousin. I'd never kill you."  
  
    She had a lighter tone to her voice and Hayate had finaly noticed her attire, a simple, light pink kimono, if Hayate hadn't known better he would have fallen for her attempt at feigned innocence, "You know, that's not going to help."  
  
    She gave an acknowleding shrug, "I don't care, I didn't do anything."  
  
    "I'm not going tell anyone, I can understand why you would want to do that."  
  
    "I didn't."  
  
    Hayate rolled his eyes and jumped off and looked back at the funeral setup. Only the coffin remained. Erikku interrupted them as he walked past, did a doubletake, and returned looking bewildered, "Whoa, am I seeing a ghost."  
  
    "No, you idiot," Midori knew he was being sarcastic, but decided to respond anyway.  
  
    He breifly laughed and turned back to Hayate, "So?"  
  
    "I'm still alive."  
  
    "As soon as Shinden told me you were back, I went out to look for you," Erikku's smile grew wider, "And we have a new mission! Tai also. Unfortunately though, Midori is coming along with us."  
  
    "Oh, yeah. You guys have the sorry end of it," she rolled her eyes she stepped up to him, "I'm stuck with you two idiots."  
  
    Hayate chuckled and stepped past his cousin as she began shouting at Erikku, preparing himself for the tearful reunion with his former bride to be. As he walked away, he could hear Midori and Erikku cursing back and forth at eachother.  
  


* * *

  
    Tai yawned and continued on with his studies, tiredly writing with his calligraphy pen. A knock at the door signaled him to get up. Hayate was let in, looking a little upset. Unknown to him, it was because he couldn't tell Mari the truth, "Midori said you wanted to talk to me?"  
  
    Tai shot back in horror, "She promised she wouldn't tell! Hayate, I never really wanted to, you have to beleive me."  
  
    Hayate cocked an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"  
  
    "What?" seeing the clueless look on his friend's face, he realized his mistake, "Oh, nevermind."  
  
    "No, you know something, don't you?"  
  
    "What are you talking about?"  
  
    "I think she tried to get me killed, you know something about it, don't you," Tai didn't respond, "Tell me, I need to know."  
  
    "I... I can't."  
  
    "Tai, you have to tell me, I could wind up dead if you don't."  
  
    "I can't."  
  
    "Tai, tell me now. It can't be that you tried to kill me."  
  
    Tai swallowed the lump in his throat, "Kind of."  
  
    "Whoa, what are you talking about?" Hayate grasped the tanto that hung from his side, just incase."  
  
    "I kind of gave Midori the idea to kill you, and made the plans," Hayate looked at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, "Hayate, beleive me, I didn't really think she was going to go through with it, and I wasn't thinking right either. I had a bad day that day."  
  
    Seeing no response, he continued desperately, "Please Hayate, you have to believe me. You can't tell anyone, I'll be killed if you do."  
  
    "Midori..."  
  
    "She said that she would tell if she was caught, you can't tell anyone about her either."  
  
    "I don't know."  
  
    "Hayate, please."  
  
    Hayate, still frowning got up, "C'mon, we have to go to the mission breifing in a little while. I'm going now."  
  
    He left the room, and Tai, sweating out of nervousness, decided that he would wait a while before going himself. He dropped his head down onto the open book, fearing what Hayate would do.  
  


* * *

  
**A.N.**- I am so friggin sorry about the wait. I havent updated for over a month. Oh, God, I hope that after November 4th I will be much faster with these updates. I can't begin to say how sorry I am. But please, review. I'm sorry.  
  
Oh, and Wolf, sorry if I made Tai a little too soft or desperate or whatever. Erikku wouldn't really fit that part since I have something else in store for him. And Heero cares about his cousin too much. I had to do it since I couldn't find any other part for him to play. Sorry. God, I hope I still have all my reviewers. 


	6. Keeping You Close

**Disclaimer**- I do not own Dead or Alive.  
  
**A.N.**- Whoa really sorry for the long wait. As some of you may know, I had something going on, which I won't bother any of you with the details on. Unfortunately (or fortunately for you all) it's ended, so now I can get back to work. I would have sooner, but my files got deleted and I've had to restart. Oh well, I was stuck where I was anyway.  
  
**Zeshin Hayabusa**- Sorry, I died again.... oh well, I'm gettin the next chapter up now.  
  
**digininga**- It's alright, sorry I haven't updated for a while. I have the same problems with my writing, school, work, other things... y'kno, the basics. It's hard enough balancing those. So consider this a really late Christmas present.  
  
**Wolf Runner**- Thanks for not abandoning me. Glad you have patience and can wait so long. I'll try not to keep the next update from you guys.  
  
**Chisha**- Aww, c'mon Chisha, read on. I'm honored to have a review from someone in kochan's family. All three of you have great writing talent and it's great to have writers of such caliber reading my fic. I did in fact make up their names, so it'll be a real kick in the @$$ if they ever give the real ones.  
  
**Snipe**- Thanks for reviewing. Hitomi can't fight for plot reasons. I'm glad I can introduce the whole Hitomi/Hayate idea to people. I just hope that it can inspire a lot of other people to write their own Hitomi/Hayate fics. I'm glad other authors I know started their own. Read Forevermore's fics, there really good. She's one of the best writers that I've ever read from. Unfortunately she hasn't updated in a while either, probably for near the same reasons as me.  
  
**Forevermore**- Ahh... glad to have you back, Forevermore. I really hope you continue to write your fic, because I'm dieing to know who this guy is and what you're bringing back the other characters for. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, sorry it took so long. I'm glad you liked my ideas, especially since they just came to me while typing. I'll try to put in more on Ayane and Ryu and get a little more insight on Hitomi's life, but I'm going with a nice Erikku/Yuuna thing first. I'll try to include them too though, but if I can't, I promise I will put a good amount in the next chapter.  
  
**Lan Di**- I'm glad you like the story. And yes, I have noticed the gramatical and spelling errors before. I'm way too lazy to check it myself and using spell check in Microsoft Word is a pain in the ass because it says all of the HTML code is wrong. Anyways, thanks to you though, I'm going through all previous chapters to correct all of this. Thanks. And I'm glad you like Midori, Forevermore takes the credit for her though. Thank her.   


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****

Chapter 5

_By: Spider_

  


* * *

  
    Erikku laid back, resting on the rock and looked on as Yuuna sent her younger siblings off to bed as they finished playing. Her parents were both home for the first time in a long while so she decided that she would spend some time with who she considered one of her closest friends. As soon as her brothers and sisters entered through the village gates, she turned to her companion, "I heard about your first mission, are you excited about it?"  
  
    "Yeah, I really am. My first chance to go head to head with a samurai," he smiled as he said this.  
  
    Yuuna frowned at her friend's bloodlust, feeling that he would do something that would get him in trouble, "Erikku, this is a stealth mission, you're supposed to get her out of there."  
  
    "I know..." his voice trailed, "But if things go wrong, I'm supposed to fight to get Hayate out of there. He's nervous about it, so he will slip up."  
  
    "What makes you think that?"  
  
    "He's being paranoid about Midori and Tai. They're coming on the mission, and he keeps asking me to keep an eye on them. If you ask me, he's scared about this," he threw a rock into the nearby lake. It skipped three times before plunging into the crystal clear water.  
  
    Yuuna sat down next to him and hugged her legs up to her chest, now worrying about Erikku's safety, "Don't worry about him. Just be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you."  
  
    "Don't worry, I'll be fine," he chuckled.  
  
    "You can't be sure. Just take all the precautions you can," she turned her head to face him, "I couldn't stand life if I lost you."  
  
    Erikku gave a type of sad smile and sat up and scooted back against the rock. He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her back next to him, "Don't think about that. I'll be fine, I promise. Have I ever broken a promise I've made to you?"  
  
    "No but..." her protest was stopped by Erikku's finger.  
  
    "I'll be fine."  
  
    "You better keep this promise, Erikku... If I ever lose you, nothing will ever make me happy again."  
  
    Erikku put his arm around her shoulder and let her rest her head on his chest. He took her hands with one of his own, and the other went to her hip, "Don't say that, you have your family, you have other friends. They all need you, and one person shouldn't have the ability to take all your happiness away."  
  
    She looked down at his hand, cradled in her own two and began gently stroking then, "I know... I just can't lose you."  
  
    "You will never lose me," he kissed the top of her head, "I promise."  
  
    She turned red for a second, but thanks to the setting sun, the deep crimson didn't show on her fair skin, "Thanks."  
  
    "No problem, I never break my promises."  
  
    A long time of silence fell between the two as they held each other, watching the sunset. Soon the full moon had risen, fireflies began to appear, and toads could be heard croaking from various places around them. Soon enough, Yuuna took it upon herself to break the silence, "Erikku, I need to know... is there's any chance that we could be more than just friends."  
  
    Erikku stopped stroking her thigh and let go of her. She sat up straight and looked at him as if she was about to cry, "I... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up..." she was once again silenced by his fingers.  
  
    Yuuna looked back at him, again frowning, trying to hold back tears that were sure to flow. He looked at her for a second and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look at him in the eyes. When she did, he moved in and gently kissed her lips.  
  
    She closed her eyes, the kiss was soft, but it still told her the answer she wanted. Their lips parted for mere seconds before he moved back in for another kiss. This time he gently tried to slip his tongue in and she let it. Their tongues intertwined and he ran his one hand up and down her back while the other laid firmly on her rear. After what seemed like eternity, he broke the kiss.  
  
    As soon as their lips parted Erikku spoke, "God... you're beautiful."  
  
    She blushed as he brushed a strand of her long black hair out of her face, then the two stood up. Yuuna looked up at him hoping to end this on a positive note, "It's getting late, and I don't want my parents to be worried about me. And you have to leave for your mission in a few hours. Can you walk me home?"  
  
    Erikku smiled and took her hand to help her up, "I'd love to."  
  


* * *

  
    Midori, and Suki aimed their bows at the samurai archers, pulled back on the string until it could take no more and let the arrows fly. The two kunoichi hit their marks, the two guards on the outside fell without a sound. Hayate, Erikku, and Tai made their way down to the small fortress where a few novice samurai held the daughter of a rich family captive. It was obvious to Hayate as to who it was, that's why he begged his father to let them go, despite this sudden turn of events.  
  
    Erikku swung the blade of his kyoketsu-shogei, and it flew into a samurai that had just turned the corner of the outside wall, the deadly poison rushed through his veins and he fell to the ground. An arrow flew through the spot where his head once stood. The three scaled the walls easily thanks to the ashiko on their feet and disappeared on the other side.  
  
    "So how long do you think its going to take them?" Midori stood up and looked at Suki, who remained fixed on the body that Erikku left behind, ready to shoot anyone who saw it.  
  
    The older kunoichi looked up at her, "Be patient, it shouldn't matter. We just need to make sure we get their hostage out alive."  
  
    "Jeez... okay I get it, I was just wondering," Midori frowned and lowered her weapon, "It's just not too much fun waiting here while they have all the fun."  
  
    Suki looked up at her and sneered. Midori turned away from her, "I get it, and we're not here to have fun. I'm going to go around the back so I could cover them. I'm sure you could handle things here.  
  
    She replied with a simple nod and kept her eyes on the corpse. Midori shook her head at the other woman's dedication to her work. As she walked through the forest she spotted Hayate on the inside and knelt down, drawing her bow, "He doesn't do a very good job covering himself does he?"  
  
    Before she could release the arrow that she held, Hayate had disappeared again. The girl angrily cursed and silently prayed that one of them would mess up and set off an alarm.  
  
    She waited, and after a while decided that they might have been too good to mess up and drew her bow again. Finally a samurai walked into her sight, she fired an arrow and it landed in front of his feet. Almost instantly, he yelled and the torches to the central court were lit. Unfortunately, Hayate wasn't still outside, he must have gotten into the holding cell, "Oh well, they'll get caught."  
  


* * *

  
    Inside the building where the samurai held their prisoner, Hayate fiddled with the key to the locked door and Tai kicked the two guard's bodies out of the way. Erikku unsheathed his katana, "Hurry up, there gonna be in here pretty soon!"  
  
    "You know yelling at me isn't gonna help, right?"  
  
    "Its encouragement, so get it open," as soon as he finished unlocking the door, the front door to the structure burst open, followed by a few samurai and their shogun. Luckily they were on a lower level and hadn't seen them yet, "There here, get in there and take the prisoner out the window. Tai and I will hold them off for a while, then meet you at the rendezvous point."  
  
    "Are you sure we can? There's a lot of them and as soon as the fighting starts, there will be more," said Tai as Erikku handed him the katana he had stolen.  
  
    He undid the ropes that tied an ono to his back, "Fine, you can stay up here. I'm going down there to fight... just throw some poisoned shuriken or something."  
  
    Erikku jumped down from the balcony just as Hayate rushed through the door and closed it behind himself. Even thought the door he could hear the heavy battle axe demolish armor, metal, wood, anything that was in the way. He looked down at the young German girl, who had her eyes tightly shut as tears rolled down her face, hands bound behind her back, and had a gash in her forehead. He rushed to her side, and rolled a white cloth around her forehead making sure not to let any hair stay in, "Hitomi, its me, it's alright."  
  
    She opened her eyes and looked at him, disbelieving what she saw. She wiped her eyes and reached out for him, making sure he was real, "Hayate?"  
  
    "Uh huh," he continued to undo the ropes. Once done he opened the window on the opposite side of the room, throwing a rope down, "You have to be very quiet if you want both of us to get out of here, okay?"  
  
    Hitomi nodded as Hayate went down the rope, a few seconds later he followed. Luckily all of the samurai had been drawn to the inside of the building that they had just escaped. Normally he would go back to help but these, as Shinden explained, were just novice samurai. The Japanese government had sent ninjas to prevent scandal from reaching the wealthier class who would then fear their own samurai.  
  
    Eventually, Hayate and Hitomi were able to escape the small village just as the battle sounds died down. It was impossible for them to have made it, it was too quick. Still, Hayate made way to the point Erikku had specified, just incase. Tai had the best chances of making it out alive, maybe he went out the window too. Besides, he had to meet up wit Suki and Midori.  
  
    Eventually they slowed their pace, and began walking. Hayate lowered the sash that covered his face. Hitomi looked at him and smiled, "I thought I was never going to be able to see you again. Thank you for saving me."  
  
    "It's no problem."  
  
    Hitomi looked at him, noticing that he had a grim look on his face, "What's wrong?"  
  
    Hayate sighed, "There were three of us that came in to get you out of there. Two of my friends might be dead because I couldn't get the door open fast enough."  
  
    "Ohh, I'm sorry."  
  
    "It's not your fault," Hayate reassured her. She gently put her hand on his shoulder.  
  
    The two remained silent until they came up on the point to find Suki and Midori already there, as soon as Hitomi sat down on a rock next to the lake, Suki stood up and walked over to Hayate, "Who messed up?"  
  
    "I don't know, don't ask me, all three of us were inside when the alarm went off. I thought one of you didn't get a body hidden in time," she scowled at him as he continued, "Besides, we got her out of there, mission accomplished."  
  
    "Two of our ninjas are probably dead because someone messed up."  
  
    "Father never said anything about casualties."  
  
    "That's because the standard is none, you should have known that from your training."  
  
    Hayate sighed, frustrated with the woman who continued to nag and scold him. Eventually she shut up and Hayate whispered to her so that Midori, who was talking to Hitomi, wouldn't hear, "I think she must have done something, was she with you the whole time?"  
  
    "She went around the back to cover you and the others," before the conversation could continue, Tai walked up to them, followed by a bloody Erikku who dragged his axe behind him. He went straight to the lake and lied down next to it.  
  
    Hayate turned to Tai as Suki went off to bandage Erikku, "How'd you get out of there alive?"  
  
    "Smoke balls. After a while, I decided that it was hopeless so I jumped down, threw a smoke ball, and had to drag him out the door."  
  
    Hayate smiled, wondering what the scene would have looked like, "He's too stubborn for his own good. Just look at how much blood he has on him, I wonder how many times he was cut."  
  
    "Only once," laughed Erikku who was still lying down, "All this blood, its theirs."  
  
    "Yeah right, tell us about it when we get home," teased Midori, knowing that he had to be lying. She then turned to Hitomi, "We're going to have to keep you with us for a week or so, Shinden wants you to be safe."  
  
    She nodded, "Okay."  
  
    Hayate walked over to her and took her hand to help her up. He then spoke to the whole group, "C'mon, we have to get moving, they could be tracking us right now."  
  
    Erikku struggled to his feet and leaned on Midori, hoping to annoy her a little more by getting blood on her, but she stepped to the side and he fell over again, tired from the battle. As soon as she finished laughing she helped him back to his feet and let him hang off her shoulder. After seeing this Suki looked at Hayate, "I think one of you messed up, don't blame it on your cousin, when we get back I want to know who."  
  


* * *

  
    "What went wrong?" the angry voice seeped in through the large door of the meeting hall of the Matsusuke family mansion. It couldn't help but make the young girl curious and she gently opened the door and peered inside.  
  
    She saw her older brother, Hayate among the other ninjas that had went on his mission. Hayate was the target of the outburst and one of Shinden's officials, his younger brother.  
  
    "They must have seen either Midori or Suki, the rest of us were inside when all the shouting started," Hayate remained calm and acted like the situation was no big deal. His half-sister who was watching from the door could still tell that something went wrong.  
  
    "How dare you accuse me of messing up! I..."  
  
    She was cut off by the official, "Suki has never been on a mission that has failed before. And it seems that every mission you've been on has failed."  
  
    "Well so has Midori, I haven't seen you yelling at her."  
  
    That shut him up, he wouldn't accuse his own daughter of messing up the mission. Instead he paused and moved on to a different situation, "Now onto the second matter. Erikku, you weren't supposed to kill so many. You were supposed to leave that to the army of Japan."  
  
    "It was a diversion, sir. Hayate went in to get the prisoner out, then he slipped out a different way. Tai and I stayed behind to make sure that they get safe passage," Erikku's stated, "Hayate and the prisoner went out the window and got out of there as we lured in every samurai."  
  
    "Still, you should have used a stunning poison..." his voice trailed, and Erikku sensed that he was going to let up.  
  
    "I didn't have any with me. It wasn't specified in our briefing."  
  
    The conversation went on, partly congratulating Erikku for being able to kill thirteen samurai and partly scolding him for leaving only eleven survivors. Midori and Suki had killed a few themselves, but there were too few to be scolded for. The emperor wanted at least fifteen survivors our of the twenty-nine novices.  
  
    Ayane listened intently until she felt a hand on her shoulder, she was about to shout in surprise, but a hand over her mouth stopped her and she was gently pulled back as the door was gently closed. The hand had been lowered and she turned around to face Ryu who instantly asked his question, "Why are you spying on the meeting, you know debriefing is to be confidential."  
  
    She smiled at him, "I was curious."  
  
    He smiled back at her, it was impossible not to when she did, "So what was going on?"  
  
    "Hayate and Erikku were being yelled at. They're trying to figure out who caused them to be found out."  
  
    "Ohh," Ryu didn't really know what to say, but continued on, "I'm going into Kyoto today. Do you want to go with me?"  
  
    "Sure," Ayane excitedly replied had never been into the cities before. Ryu told her what time to meet him at the gates and then hurried off to her room to get ready.  
  
    The doors then opened and Hayate wandered out followed by Tai, Erikku, and Midori. They all looked very tired. Ryu walked over to Hayate, "I heard you got yelled at, what'd you do this time?"  
  
    "Nothing, Suki's just being a bitch. Someone was seen, so the mission didn't go perfect like planned. I don't see what the big deal was, they would have found her missing at some point."  
  
    Ryu chuckled, "What happened?"  
  
    "I don't know, we were in the keep when a lot of shouting began. Then a few of them ran in and Erikku and Tai fought them as I ran through the door."  
  
    "You have the worst luck, you know that? You've nearly gotten killed on every mission you've been in."  
  
    "That's only been two times," Hayate pointed out, "It's Midori's fault. She's been purposely trying to get me killed."  
  
    "What?" exclaimed Ryu, "She's your cousin, she wouldn't do that to you. Even though you two fight all the time, she still loves you deep down."  
  
    "Don't tell anyone about this, okay," Hayate paused and Ryu nodded, "But I have proof that she was the one who knocked me out on our first mission."  
  
    "I'll just take your word for it," Ryu didn't feel like listening to him ramble on about this.  
  
    "Good, because I don't want to talk about it, I'm just tired," he took the stairs to the upper floor as Ryu walked out through the front arch. Hayate then headed to Hitomi's room to check up on her.  
  


* * *

  
    Ryu and Ayane were walking around Kyoto among the bustling city people. By now, the late afternoon, Ayane and Ryu had finished their shopping. By now, Ryu's stomach was beginning to hurt from hunger and he assumed that Ayane's was the same, "Do you want to go get something to eat? All the shops are going to close down when the sun begins to set, so this might be our last chance. My treat."  
  
    "Umm... sure, why not?" she then followed him the rest of the way until they reached a restaurant.  
  
    The two knelt down at a table that the hostess had brought them to and shortly after receiving their menus Ryu began a conversation, "So how do you like the city?"  
  
    Ayane looked up from the menu at Ryu and smiled, "It's been great so far."  
  
    Ryu smiled back at her, he loved her smile. It was a rare occurrence but you could never tell because it was so... bright, "Ohh, how so?"  
  
    "There's so many different people, so much to do and see. It makes our clan's life seem so boring," Ayane explained, "Besides, I would have been happy enough to just get away from home anyway."  
  
    Ryu frowned, "I'm sorry... I know how much you hate having to live every day with everyone treating you like they do."  
  
    "Its alright," she glanced down at her menu, "Besides, you and Hayate give me all the love I need. You two make life more bearable for me."  
  
    "But... I wish I could do more."  
  
    "Really you do enough."  
  
    "Everyone makes fun of you all the time though. Every time I hear one of them I wanna beat the shit outta them..."  
  
    "Ryu, believe me, you do what you can. Besides, I don't care what everyone is saying about me," she explained, "The only thing that bothers me is that Shinden and Kasumi won't accept me and that my mother can't stop crying about it."  
  
    "Still... I wish I could do more for you," Ryu looked back at his menu when he finished.  
  
    Ayane took his hand and he looked back up at her, "You do enough."  
  
    She let go again and lifted the menu up so that he couldn't see her face when she blushed. "You know, there is one thing you could do though," she had said this in a teasing tone, so he didn't take her seriously. Even if he did, he wouldn't have had a clue what she meant.  
  
    Before he had a chance to respond, the waitress came along to take their orders that, along with their desire to change the conversation, distracted them long enough to put the previous words in the back of their minds. The waitress soon left again, and Ryu began to speak, "Did you get excused from your lessons today?"  
  
    "Yes, my weapons teacher was out on a mission today so I was free to come."  
  
    "Good," Ryu paused briefly, "So how much longer until you can become a kunoichi?"  
  
    "I need to increase my accuracy with the bow, then I have a few poisons lessons with Erikku left."  
  
    "I'll help you with the bow anytime you want," Ryu then chuckled, "But you're going to need to study for the poisons lessons a lot. I was one of the last students to take one from his father, and it was had. Rumor is that Erikku made it harder once he took over."  
  
    Ayane gave him a teasing smile, "Maybe you can stay up with me late at night to help me study."  
  
    Ryu chuckled, not knowing that in a way, she was serious, "You'd like that wouldn't you?"  
  
    "Very much."  
  
    The waitress finally got there with the food, saving Ryu once again. The two ate the rest of their meal pretty much talking about different things going on in each of their lives. Then headed back to their clan's village under a full moon.  
  


* * *

  
**A.N.**- Well there was more... but I was cut off yet again since there wasn't enough memory in notepad. There was more stuff to put in, but I had to shorten it up. Sorry for those who were hoping for a little more Ryu/Ayane. Chapter 6 is in the works. I will also start to revise my previous chapters for mistakes, thank Dan Li for that. 


	7. Hard Decisions

**A.N.**- Wow it's been 2... 3 years since I've updated. Well I decided to check out again and I found this new thing, the C2s and I looked into them and I was quite surprised to find all of my DOA fics in it. I mean it's probably no big deal but as far as I know someone picked them to be part of this C2 so I'm honored. Anyway so that got me to decide to finish up this one or at least work on it a little more seeing as how it was unfinished. So sorry about the really long wait. It's been a long time since I've written so I'm probably a little rusty. Hopefully I'll get some of my old reviewers back like Forevermore or Wolf. Oh and I doubt anyone whose reviewed before is going to do so again so I'll just wait a while before I do all that again. God I hate this new HTML styling... I cant really figure it out... if someone can tell me how to insert an HTML tag that would help me indent the beginnings of each paragraph, tell me please.

* * *

**Chapter 6  
By Spider**

* * *

Shinden and his Brother Aiko sat in the dining hall of the Matsusuke family's mansion, discussing the events of the mission the previous night. A representative of the Shogun of Edo was on his way and was set to arrive shortly. He was coming to address the mission on which the young German girl was rescued. The group of renegade samurai that had been holding her captive had apparently been trying to buildup their forces to overthrow the Shogun's (Montaro Yamamoto's) rule. They had kidnapped Hitomi in order to get the Sorai family's attention, who were to trade their samurai bodyguards for their daughter. The Sorais however went into Edo to tell the Shogun of this and he in turn hired the Matsusuke clan ninjas to get her back.

"I wonder what he'll want us to do about this. He will probably consider this whole thing a failure. Yamamoto probably would have rather had those samurai commit seppuku than have them killed by us..." Aiko's voice trailed off as he pondered on the consequences of the young ninjas' actions.

Shinden groaned. He hated when the shogunate sent a representative over. It was always to lecture them, tell them how much ninjas are inferior to samurai, and go off about how they shouldn't even be dealing with lowlifes like a ninja saying how it's a huge disgrace, "They should just have kept this among themselves. They don't want out help anyway."

"Well they did say they didn't want it getting out. If other samurai found out, they could join them. If other rich families found out, they would be hesitant to hire samurai bodyguards."

"So where does our clan come into this? Where does any ninja come into this? If anything disarray among the samurai would help us," Shinden was becoming frustrated with his job as clan leader, countless years of having to make decisions for his people gradually drained him from day to day.

"Sir, Seiji Tomeo is here from Edo," Shinden and Aiko nodded and the messenger retreated, shortly replaced by the representative, a tall and lanky man who was probably easily a doormat for Montaro.

Seiji sat down across from the two Brothers, and at once began to go over the events of the previous night, "Have you returned the Sorai girl yet?"

"No, we will in the morning," replied Shinden

The representative hummed in reply then shortly after began again, "So word is that one of your ninjas killed many of those renegade samurai last night."

"Yes, we tried to get the hostage out with no casualties but they had no other choice..." started Shinden.

Seiji interrupted, "You know our rules, a mistake like being noticed shouldn't have occurred."

"Yes but..."

Again he was interrupted, "Samurai are not to be killed like that by a ninja. We are much better fighters than any of you will ever be. And this needs to be shown to all of our people. Word of last night got out and other samurai are becoming nervous. Some are even beginning to fear your people now. Hell a few even ran off and became ninjas in other clans. This isn't good for either of us.

Shinden was silent as he held his head in frustration. Aiko spoke up, "So, what does Shogun Montaro suggest we all do?"

"We aren't going to do anything," started Seiji in a condescending tone, "You all have to make a choice. We know how to solve this, you just have to agree."

"Well?" asked Aiko.

"We wat the young man who killed all of those men," Seiji's eyes widened, "Montaro Yamamoto wants to speak with this ninja in person. He must come to Edo."

"What if we refuse?" Aiko wondered aloud.

"You will comply or the shogunate will take action themselves. And believe me, the result would not be beneficent to your little clan," he threatened, "Even a little shook up, we are still stronger than you."

"Well if he sought to try to intimidate us, he sent the wrong man," Shinden finally spoke, "He should have sent someone more threatening. Not a skinny little man like yourself. I should kill you right here!"

"Fine, if that will be your way," he rose up and despite fearing for his life, kept up his composure, "There will be repercussions."

"Wait, hold on a second!" Aiko then turned to his Brother and whispered, "Maybe we should just give him the child, do we really want to risk our entire clan for one? He is just a trainee anyway, nothing too important to us."

"He is the best fighter we have, even better than my own son I'd say. He may not be much for us now, but someday he will be," snapped back Shinden, "Besides I will never give up one of my clan to them."

"We have no other choice, if we don't give him up, we are giving up the whole clan."

Shinden sunk in his chair like there was no way out. He looked over to Seiji who was still standing at the door, ready to storm out if need be. "Very well," he motioned to his Brother, "Send someone to get Erikku."

* * *

Yuuna was sitting in the window of Erikku's room, looking out at the road leading out of the village. Erikku was packing... to leave for Edo. They didn't really know what for yet, Yuuna feared the worst, that he would be executed as an example. To show that the ninja are still below samurai. She noticed two figures returning to the village, she whispered to herself, "Ayane and Ryu..."

"What?" Erikku asked without looking up from his satchel.

Yuuna looked down at him, finally looking at him for the first time since he told her he was leaving, "Nothing..."

She paused, then continued, "Erikku... please... don't go."

"I have to, Shinden ordered it," Erikku finally stopped putting his things together, "Besides we don't know for sure what they want, they probably just want to know more about those rebel samurai."

He took her hand to reassure her and half-smiled incase there was any remaining doubt. Yuuna came down from the window, letting go of his hand, and sat on his desk by the lamp, "That's just it, we don't know what they want."

"I'll be fine," Erikku slipped his arms around her waist, "I'll be back in about a week."

The girl looked down at him from the desk with a solemn look on her face, knowing that this could be the last time she ever saw him and at this realization, had to hold back tears, "I don't know... I can't know that for sure."

Erikku gave her another reassuring smile, "I promise I'll come back. Have I ever broken a promise I've made to you?"

She looked down to the where her legs dangled off of the desk and slightly touched his hips with them. She finally replied softly, as if feeling guilty, "No..."

He lifted her chin again, the same as he did when he first kissed her, "Then you know I will come back."

"Mmm hmm," she nodded. He then kissed her again softly on the lips, causing heat to spread throughout their bodies. Yuuna wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and timidly slid her tongue into his mouth. Erikku had to slide his hands down from her waist to her rear as she shifted her weight so that she rose off of the desk.

Erikku, though she was very light and he very strong, used the closest wall to help support her. A kiss from Yuuna was enough to make his whole body weaken and every thought in his mind to melt away. Once against the wall he slowly lowered his hands from her rear, causing her to slowly lower until her feet touched the floor. Erikku continued to lower his hand until he came into contact with the soft skin on her thighs, then moved his hands back up, underneath her clothing until he reached her underwear. He then hooked two of his fingers inside and around the edge and, urged on by Yuuna's encouraging moans and the warmth his hand felt, began to pull them down before he caught himself, "I'm sorry Yuuna, I don't think we should be doing this just yet."

As Erikku backed away she sighed in frustration, wanting to feel his touch again, and pouted "Why not?"

He frowned too because there were so many reasons, "We just have to wait."

"But I want you now," she whined as she pulled him back in provocatively.

"I know, I want you too... but if we do this, I won't want to leave. And I have to," he explained as she finally let go of him, "Besides, Yuuna, I love you and I don't want to sleep with you until the time is right for both of us. And the Yuuna I know would be more responsible and wait for that right time."

Yuuna's sad look disappeared and was replaced with a bright smile, the same one that always made Erikku melt, "You love me?"

"Of course, you're always there for me... my whole life all I've really needed was you, how can I not?" he replied. She then kissed him again but before long a knock came at the door to poison shop downstairs.

"Erikku? It's time to go!" it was Aiko, probably along with Seiji and his escorts.

"I have to go now, I promise I will come back," he kissed her on the forehead, "I love you."

He then exited the room, leaving Yuuna alone in his room. She blew out the oil lamp and whispered to herself, "I love you too."

* * *

Hitomi laid in her room, and looked in a mirror. They had done a good job of cleaning her up. No more blood was visible, except for that which was on her white dress which was also torn and covered in dirt. This room that the ninjas put her in wasn't any better than that which she was held by the samurai in. It was dark, except for the moonlight that shined in onto her face. She stared at herself in the mirror, the figure she saw was expressionless, dead... as it had been for the past few hours. This whole experience had been traumatizing. Why couldn't she just stay in Germany? She had friends there, a nice house, a good school, she had everything.

Oh right, because I needed to learn about my Japanese heritage, she thought. She hated it here, and she couldn't wait to leave this place and never return to this shithole for a country. But then she realized what else was in what she had dubbed 'a shithole'. Hayate. She didn't know why she felt so attached to him, yeah he was the only friend she had here. But she had a lot of friends back in Germany. Ones she talked to more... she had only seen Hayate twice, talked to him once. Well, he had saved her life... and she saved his. But they both had to.

Her thoughts were interrupted as someone came in and lit an oil lamp. Well speak of the devil. It was Hayate, "Hey... are you okay?"

He sat down on the floor right next to her, and she raised herself up with the arm she was laying on. Without saying anything she burst into tears and put her head into Hayate's lap, letting go of all the emotion that had built up the past few hours. He was surprised at this and just sat there for a while before he awkwardly patted her head, "It'll be okay Hitomi."

She stopped crying and turned her head back towards the mirror and looked at herself again as she laid in his lap. Then after a while she spoke quietly, "My parents are going to be happy to have me back."

"Of course they will be."

"They're not going to let this happen again though," she began, "they're going to take me back to Germany."

"Well that would probably be a good idea," Hayate replied, "You'll be out of danger."

"Yeah.. that's what I thought at first, but now I don't want to leave as much anymore."

"What? Why not? You've been through so much crap here?"

"I don't know," she lied.

She then smiled up at him, "Maybe I don't want to leave my new friends yet."

Hayate smiled back at her, glad to see that she was able to smile after the previous night. Even though he didn't want to ruin her mood he had to bring her back to reality, "But either way, you have to leave. It's for your own good."

Hitomi frowned again. Hayate wanted to punch himself. She sighed and asked, "Will you come visit me?"

"In Germany?" Hitomi nodded. Hayate had never been outside of Japan, and as far as he knew Germany was the country right to the west side of China, "I'll try someday... I can't make any promises Tomi.."

Hitomi nodded, understanding that it was quite a distance to travel. It took her family 5 months, and the whole time they were rushing. She started to cry a little bit knowing she would never see Hayate again, but soon drifted off to sleep, still on Hayate's lap. He looked down at the sky blue-eyed brunette, leaned back, and began to stroke her hair, "I guess I'll stay here tonight."

* * *

Hitomi sat at the breakfast table with her parents and relatives that might as well be strangers to her. Everyone was silent, uneasy to talk about the events that had recently taken place. Hitomi picked at her food, she had no appetite, and she was going to leave this afternoon. Suddenly her father broke the silence, "I'm sorry we have to leave today, but this stuff with our daughter... you understand."

Hitomi's grandfather nodded and smiled, "Yes we understand. Safety is a big issue. I will miss my daughter... But, I'm sure Tomi would be glad to get back to Germany."

All eyes shifted to the young girl as if expecting her to give an answer that would solve some huge problem. She looked down into her lap... Tomi, that's what Hayate had called her the last time they spoke. It was just a silly little nickname, but Hayate gave it to her. She looked up at her father, who had a smile on his face, thinking that his daughter couldn't wait to get back, but his smile vanished as soon as he saw his daughter was anything but happy, "I'm sorry, I think I will need to make sure that Hitomi is all packed and ready, let's go Hitomi."

"Yes daddy," her father jutted out his elbow and she wrapped her arm in his and rested her head on his bicep. Once they got outside of the room, Hitomi began to cry.

Her father took her through a few more rooms, further away from the rest of the family and got down on his knee so that he was eye level with his daughter. He lifted her chin up, "What's the matter Mi-mi?"

Hitomi hated that nickname too. It made her sound like a dog. But she still smiled when she heard it because she knew the genuine love her father had for her and that he cared that something was wrong, "I don't want to leave daddy."

Dietrich was shocked at this. He thought for sure that his daughter would feel safer going home, "Why not?"

"Umm..." she hesitated, she couldn't come up with a lie that made sense. She finally decided on the truth, she knew her father would support her no matter what it was, "I made a new friend."

"But you have tons of friends back home that will be thrilled to meet you when you come back," her father was still confused.

"Yeah but this is different... I haven't known him very long... but I don't know... I still want to stay for him."

"Hmm," Dietrich Cristobal was puzzled, he didn't know what to do, but realized that this is what his daughter really wanted, even though it seemed very foolish... he did want to stay in Japan a while longer, "Well, Mi-mi, if you really want to stay, we'll stay. Your mother would love to anyway. Just, if you ever decide you want to go back to Germany, you tell me, and we'll go back again that instant."

Hitomi sensed what her father was thinking, "Don't worry daddy, I wont get hurt."

Hitomi's father laughed and picked her up, making her squeal with delight, "Well you better not be, you're still my little Mi-mi, and I don't want someone to hurt you."

He set his daughter back down again, "Now lets get back to breakfast, I know it may not be too good... I hate fish.. but it'll make your mother happy to see you eat again. I wish they had some bratwurst..."

Hitomi giggled as her father exited the room with his last statement. Her father was a huge man, 6'8" and 275 lbs of muscle in comparison to her own slim 5'2" 100 lb figure, so she always felt like his little girl. She was glad to be fortunate enough to have him as a father. She loved her mother, Naemi, very much too, who was also a small lady, and she was shorter than Hitomi now, so the painting made of their wedding that hung in their bedroom back in Germany was quite a funny sight to behold. She then followed her father back into the dining room, all her thoughts on Hayate. She knew where his village was now and hoped that she could go visit him soon.

* * *

It was morning, the sun was rising, the village would just be awakening thought Erikku. He would have been opening the poison shop right now. He wondered if he would ever open it again. He suddenly found himself wishing he had a son or daughter to continue running it, to carry on the Kohachirou legacy as the best poison makers in Japan. But that could all be gone now.

Erikku then began to think of his friends back home. He wondered if Hayate and Tai were having another sparring match. If Ryu is out fishing again. If Mari is still following Hayate around. Midori. Erikku chuckled to himself, he actually was starting to miss her too. He decided that he was going to give her a big hug first thing when he got back just so she would get mad at him. And then there was Yuuna... He couldn't think of her, it hurt him too much. It seemed like just as soon as he told her how he felt all these years, he had to leave her.

Seiji then put his hand on Erikku's shoulder, to have it quickly wiped off by the young man. He scoffed and then pointed, "There is the palace of Edo. Magnificent isn't it?"

Erikku marveled at the structure. It had high white walls with a contrasting black roof, beautiful gardens, and a lake surrounding it on all sides. The Matsusuke family's mansion failed miserably in comparison to it. Erikku wished that he would get to stay a while in there, but he knew that this could be his final resting place.

As the small entourage neared the palace, a drawbridge lowered and the gates opened. They were greeted by two samurai guards who sneered at Erikku, who was still in his ninja attire.

They then made their way through numerous rooms and a maze of hallways with their ultimate destination being a room where Erikku would finally come face to face with the legendary Shogun, Montaro Yamamoto. They arrived shortly after the sun rose over the palace walls, illuminating the main garden. They continued on into a large room in the garden, decorated with tapestries and things of the sort. Montaro sat at a chair inside and gestured for Erikku to come and sit down opposite from him. Erikku sat and the samurai waited outside, leaving the shogun alone with Erikku.

"So you are the young ninja who killed all of those samurai," Montaro seemed fascinated with Erikku, "We had one of those samurai here that survived, he was missing an arm. He said that he had never seen anyone fight so well in his life. We had him commit seppuku shortly thereafter. I hope I get to see you fight soon."

"I'm sorry sir, I don't quite understand," Erikku was confused, wasn't he going to be killed, "You're going to kill me right?"

The shogun let out a hearty laugh, "Ha-ha no my son, I'm not. What gave you an idea like that?"

Erikku left out a sigh of relief. He would be able to see Yuuna again, he would be able to keep his shop, and he would be able to give Midori that bear hug, "Well rumors were going around that you were going to kill me as an example."

"And what kind of example would I be making then?"

"That samurai are better than ninja and that your samurai shouldn't be afraid of us," Erikku shyly stated now knowing that the Shogun thought this was absurd.

"Ha-ha no, that was not my cause at all," laughed Montaro. He then took a very serious tone, "Erikku, I want you to become a samurai."

**

* * *

**

**A.N.**- Okay well like I said its been a long time since I've written anything... well anything like a story or anything that requires much of a creative process. So I figure that side of my brain still needs to be dusted off. Now if it seems like this chapter isn't up to par with the others, just give me time, I hope I'll get back to how I used to write soon. Anyway, R/R especially if you were one of those who used to a while ago. Years ago. Keep it positive if you can. I'll try and work on other chapters whenever I get the chance. So who knows when the next one will be up.


	8. Plotting for a Second

**A.N.**- Well glad to get some reveiws. I'm glad to finally be writing again.

**TwilightAoi**- Thanks it took me a while to come up with the OCs but I'm proud of them. But keep in mind, Midori was made by Forevermore and Tai was made by Wolf so the credit goes to those two. And as far as I know the information I have other than the DOA characters' last names is accurate. I made up Hayate, Ayane, Kasumi, and Hitomi's last names. And what exactly is a C2 anyway?

**nissepisse-** Thanks, its always nice to hear that my story's brilliant. And again, thanks for complementing my OCs, but credit for Midori and Tai goes to Forevermore and Wolf respectively. And glad you think the story is compelling too, its good to know that this is holding someone's attention. And I took that 3 year break for a bunch of reasons. One being after a while I forgot about all of this, but hopefully that wont happen again.

**Unfrogiving Wolf**- Well what can I say? It's been a while, but hopefully things will be good again soon.

* * *

**Chapter 7  
**_By: Spider_

* * *

"Erikku, I want you to become a samurai," the Shogun's words echoed through the young ninja's head. He couldn't beleive it. He thought he was about to die, and all of a sudden he was given life. But there was a downside, he was asked to become a samurai. If he agreed, he wouldn't be able to go back to the village, no seeing his friends, no... his past life would have been gone just as much as it would have been if he was killed. But what if he refused

"So what if I say no?" questioned Erikku.

Montaro rose, hand on the hilt of his katana, the legendary Kaemon. His smile had disappeared and had been replaced with an angry sneer. He was obviously upset with the possiblility of Erikku not becoming a samurai, "If you say no, then we will imprison you, then we will wipe out your village. Everyone you knew, everyone you loved, they will all be gone. You will know that it was all your fault. Then we will break you. Either way, you will become a samurai!"

Erikku looked down. Images flashed in his head. The poison shop burning, his family legacy gone along with the last Great Spirit Elixer which was invented by his father and perfected by himself. Then Hayate, Hayabusa, Tai, and the rest, fighting in vain until they would be slaughtered along with the helpless. Shinden standing before his falling city. And worst of all, Yuuna not being able to do anything as she watched all of her brothers and sisters being mercilessly slaughtered before being killed herself. All of this as a result of his own selfish choice. He then knew what he had to do and, without looking up, regretfully gave his decision, "Alright, I will become a samurai."

Montaro again smiled and relinquished his hand from the legendary blade before again taking his seat, "Well then you will find that you have made the right choice my son," he then called for a guard who then immediately went off and was soon replaced by three samurai with three different chests.

"Do you, young Erikku Kohichirou accept the ways of the samurai. To live, eat, and train alongside your samurai brothers and to devote your life to this shogunate?" Montaro began the ceremony.

Painfully, Erikku agreed, "I do."

The first samurai, in red, stepped forward and placed his chest of the same color in front of Erikku. He then bowed and backed away. Erikku opened it, revealing a red and gold set of swords consisting of a katana, a wakizashi, and a tanto. The Shogun continued, "Do you agree to follow the conditions and laws set by the Bushido until your death? Whether it be by the enemy's hands or by seppuku?"

Again his answer panged inside his heart, "I do."

The second samurai stepped forward, this one was dressed in black. He set a black and gold chest diagnollaly to Erikku's right. Erikku opened this one and inside was the traditional samurai armor and a tachi. This left the last chest and Montaro began the last step, "Do you renounce your former life and are you, if need be, prepared to face it in order to protect this city and your country?"

With this last one, Erikku had to look down as he held back tears, "Yes, I do."

Montaro's smile grew even wider as the last chest was brought to him. This one, white, contained a white samurai kimono, wooden sandals, and a straw hat. Montaro gestured for Erikku to rise and as he did, the three samurai took their boxes and moved behind the former ninja, waiting for his retreat to his new room. Montaro gave his final words for the ceremony, "Erikku, you are now a samruai. Your past life, though filled with sin is now forgiven and you have a clean slate to abide by the Bushido. This is your home now, and your brothers will be with you through the good and the bad, through the pleasant times and the rough times. All we ask of you in return is that you do the same for us."

Erikku nodded and turned, the samurai parted to let him through, then followed behind him as he was led to his new quarters. The whole walk to the room, he was in a daze. He couldn't beleive what had just happened. When he entered the room, the three samurai put down their boxes near a book case and left.

Once they were gone, Erikku walked over to the red and black boxes and retreived the katana and tachi from them. He examined the two swords, they were both very well crafted. Still the new set of blades couldn't make up for the pain he felt over this choice he had to make. His family honor was gone. How would he avenge his parent's death if he was now what killed them

The new samurai then walked over to the desk on the opposite side of the room and picked up a pen so that he could write a letter to Yuuna, he needed to hear from her. But before he could begin Erikku laid his head down on the desk and did something he hadn't since his parents died. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he began to drift off to sleep as he thought of those he left behind.

* * *

Tai Shikadachi stepped out of the dojo after training for hours in order to prepare for his next sparring match with Hayate. The cold morning air mixed with his sweat caused him to shiver. He looked up while rubbing his hands together, it was cloudy, it might rain or snow he thought. He began to walk to his home on the other side of the village, but as he turned a corner, was greeted by Midori, "Hey want another shot at taking the easy way to the top?"

The slightly older ninja looked down at his former accomplice and gave a look of mixed anger and panic, "I thought I told you I was going to do this the honest way."

Midori laughed, "Psh you wont make it then. The only way to the top nowadays is the easy, underhanded way Tai. If you really want to be the best, you'd realzie that. But I guess you really aren't the best. If you were, you'd realize that I'm on my own way to the top and that when I offer you a ride, you should take it."

"I don't care Midori, I don't want to get caught and be banished. I don't want to end up farther back from my goal than when I started," he stated firmly. He began to realize that dealing with Midori was a big mistake in the first place, he knew she would never let him forget it. She would make it haunt him for the rest of his life. He casually lowered his hands to his waist where a tanto was firmly sheathed.

This however didn't go unnoticed by the younger girl. She laughed again, and before Tai knew it, her own tanto was placed in his side, she smiled condecendingly "Now now, silly boy. Don't you know you can't go trying things like that?. We're both in this too deep Tai. I thought you weren't going to take the easy way out?"

Tai sucked in heavily at the pain in his side, the tanto in his left hand fell to the ground as vulpine Midori twisted the blade. What a mistake he made when he went to her to kill Hayate, "Just do it Midori, get it over with. I'd rather die that help you again."

"Oh but thats where youre wrong, I dont want to kill you. In fact you're going to help me again, very soon," Midori whispered in his ear. Tai cringed as she told him how, "Hayate, Kasumi, and Ryu are going to another clan. This other clan found out how to use this ancient magic they call Ninpo. They're going unarmed in order to show that they come in peace to this other clan. If we can get the two seperated, it should be an easy kill."

"What makes you think I will help you?" Tai began to ignore the pain, his mind reeling with ideas on how she was going to make him. Torture? Blackmail"

"Oh well for one, Erikku's gone now, so that leaves just Hayate. Two, he is unarmed and unexpecting, which means it is your best chance. And third, I can always report to my father that it was you who sabatoged the last mission. He will tell Shinden, and then you will be banished because he will think that because of you he lost one of his best fighters."

"Well you have this all thought out don't you?" Tai forced a weak laugh, "All I have to do is tell Shinden the truth, and its bye-bye Midori."

Midori was somewhat shocked at his sudden boldness, but kept her threatening demur, "I will kill you before you are able to do so. I promise you that much."

With that she twisted the tanto again, this time adding an up-and-down jerking motion that made Tai cry out in pain. He breathed heavily, and she asked again, "So are you going to take my offer or not."

Tai thought to himself again. He did want to get to the top, and saying he would could get this tanto out of his body. And he wouldn't necessarily have to kill Hayate, just wear him out. He knew that if he didn't kill Hayate himself, Midori would take the final blow. Hayate was his friend though... or was he really? Would he even consider doing this if he really thought that Hayate was his friend? Finally he decided, "Yeah... fine, I'll do it."

A mischevious smile was brought to Midori's lips, and she pulled the blade out of his side. She handed him white cloth to use as a bandage, "Good, now I'll be watching you, so don't try anything stupid. I'll be seeing you later." With that Midori left, leaving Tai in an alleyway with his own mind now torturing him instead of her tanto.

* * *

"So he's sending all of his kids except for me..." Ayane watched as her brother and Ryu pack for their mission to the Shinzaburo clan. They were to go and retreive three scrolls which held the directions to use three different types of ninpo. Ayane knew why she wasn't picked to go also, and didn't expect to be either. But still, she complained.

"We'll I'm going too, Ayane," started Ryu, "It's not... it's not that. He just needed to send Hayate because he needs to send his heir, and I'm going because he feel's I will be able to master Ninpo rather quickly."

"Then why is Kasumi going?" Ayane challenged, "She's not going to lead the clan someday.

Ryu sighed and looked at Hayate who was trying to ignore the situation. He guessed that it was for the same reason that he wanted to, they didn't know what to say that wouldn't hurt her. Finally Ryu looked at her, "Kasumi is second, if something happens to Hayate."

"And I'm not third..." she replied. Ryu tried to protest, but he knew that what she had said was true. Shinden basically didn't have any purpose for her. Ayane continued, "Can I at least go with you two anyway? No one that would talk to me would be around here while you all are gone. I don't want to be stuck around with Midori."

Hayate finally spoke up, "I'll talk to Kasumi about it, and see if she can keep quiet about it. You can meet us in Nako on our way to the Shinzaburo village. Just don't tell anyone about it, and when we get to the village you can't go in with us. That's the best I can do, so how does that sound?"

"At least I won't be here," she smiled. Even though she would still be left out of the important part of the mission, at least she would be there with the people that cared about her. Besides, it's not like she wanted to go to be part of the mission, just so that she wouldn't be alone for a few days.

Hayate stood up and left to go talk to Kasumi about Ayane going with them, leaving Ryu and Ayane alone. Ryu stopped packing and sat down next to her, "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yeah of course, I hate it around here."

"But Kasumi's going too, I know you two don't get along too well."

"We share the same room every night," Ayane frowned, things weren't horrible with her sister. They just weren't... they weren't how things should be between sisters. They never spoke to eachother unless it was to have a breif arguement. "She doesn't say anything about me, she doesn't say anything at all."

"Yeah.. I know. I'm sorry Ayane," as he said this Ayane laid back into his lap and he looked down at her, "I know that this is going to bother you, but I know it's on your mind all the time anyway. See, Kasumi doesn't hate you, she just feels uneasy about you. She is sad about what happened to her mother, because she's never been the same since. Kasumi was just a baby when your mother was raped, she never got the love and care from her that most children should get."

"And it's all my fault."

"No it's not," Ryu sighed again, and began to run his fingers through Ayane's short purple hair, "It's Radiou's fault. You had nothing to do with how your mother is now. Ayame loves you just as much, if not more, as she loves Hayate and Kasumi, that's why she named you after herself. She just doesn't know how to show love anymore."

"What about Hayate, why doesn't he feel upset about all this?" she wondered.

"He is upset, he just is too caught up with mirroring his father. To become a great clan leader. So since Shinden doesn't talk about it, Hayate avoids it too. He doesn't take it out on you because he still sees you as his sister," as he said this tears started to form in Ayane's eyes, Ryu wiped one away with his thumb as it began to run down her face, "Don't worry Ayane, when Hayate takes over things will change."

As he finished this he leaned down and kissed her forehead and she smiled up at him, "On our way back, maybe we can delay things a little and spend a little more time away from home. Now, regretfully, I have to finish packing. It shouldn't be much longer."

Ayane remorsefully got up, and sat across from him. Then Ryu stood and walked over to his desk and he went into a drawer to retreive something from inside, "Here's some money, maybe you should go down the mountain to Nako tonight and get a room at the inn. That way you don't have to wake up really early to get there before we do tomorrow morning."

"Okay sounds good to me," she stood up to leave but stopped and got a mischevious smile on her face, "Want to come with me and keep me company tonight?"

Ryu chuckled and shook his head, "No, sorry. I'd love to, but I have to go to breifing before we leave tomorrow. Shinden might get mad if I don't show up. Maybe some other time?"

Ayane smiled at him, "Alright that works for me," she gave him a hug and left the room. She felt releived that the next few days she would be able to relax and spend time with people who cared about her. Maybe even mend things with Kasumi. She began to head out of town on the road to Nako as the sun began to set.

* * *

Hitomi followed closely behind her father, nervous to look up at the locals watching them. The sun had already set but most of the town was still awake. Most of them had never seen a westerner before, and gawked at the mountain of a man who was Dietdrich Cristobal. Of course many of them were watching her too, a hybrid, who again was another sight they had never laid eyes on before. Hitomi suddenly found herself wishing she had stayed at her grandparents home.

Dietdrich seemed oblivious to the "stop-and-stare" manner that each resident of Nako had that they passed. He and his father-in-law had gone into the village to do a little buisness, along with a few samurai bodyguards. Hitomi's grandfather was the owner of a restauraunt and inn in the town and since he figured that they would be staying for a while, decided that he wanted to show the two his buisness since they hadn't met since Hitomi was just a baby

They entered the inn and the old man walked over to the front desk and checked the guest list for the night. Satisfied he returned to the two, "Okay Hitomi, I'll get one of my attendants to check you into a room for tonight, it's too dangerous to try to get back home now. Then I'll show your father around my buisnesses here."

Hitomi nodded and was escorted to a room by an attendant followed by one of the samurai. Shortly after arriving to her room, she decided that she wasn't tired and was going to look for her father. As she opened the door to her room and entered the hall, she found her samurai guard asleep. Hitomi then started downstairs and began to search the different areas of the inn for him. She soon found out from the attendant that her grandfather had taken him to the restauraunt that he owned.

She then decided to go to the hotel's cafe, maybe get something to eat. On her way in she bumped into a certain younger purple-haired girl, "Oh sorry."

"It's fine," the girl looked at her, eyes widened. She tried to hide her surprise but Hitomi caught on, "Just watch where you're going next time."

Ayane knew who Hitomi was, chances are it wasn't some other western girl who just happened to stay at an inn owned by the Sorai family. She could kill her right now, suceed where the others had failed before. But she figured it didn't matter anymore. Afterall, Hayate had to save her once already and if the clan was still being paid to kill them, they wouldn't have rescued her so she decided to just let it go. Still, Ayane figured she had nothing better to do so she figured a little small talk wouldn't hurt, "So you're Mr. Sorai's grandaughter, huh."

Hitomi at first was surprised that this stranger knew her name, but then figured it was kind of obvious, "Yeah."

"You know my brother, Hayate, right? He's the one who brought you back to your family," Ayane didn't know that they already knew eachother, she just thought that maybe she'd know what he did for her.

"You're Hayate's sister?" Hitomi became excited, she wanted to see him again but never was able to figure out how to get a reunion arranged, "Can you take me to visit him? Please?"

Ayane was startled by the German girl's straightforwardness, but she guessed it was warranted since her brother had saved her life. Maybe she was looking to repay him or something, and Hayate did deserve a reward or something, "Well he's coming into town tomorrow morning to pick me up. You can see him then."

Joy swept through Hitomi's mind until she realized who this girl standing next to her must be, "You're a ninja... you aren't going to..."

"Well to be honest, I did think about it," Ayane confessed. As soon as she saw the sudden change in mood in Hitomi she continued, "Oh but don't worry, I think that wouldn't matter now anyway. Besides, you do need to see my brother right?"

Hitomi was still somewhat nervous about this girl, but if she was Hayate's sister, she probably wouldn't hurt her, "So what are you guys doing in Nako tomorrow?"

"Just passing through," Ayane knew she couldn't give this girl the truth. Even if she probably wouldn't harm their mission at all, "We're going to be staying in Mito for a week or so to visit our uncle."

"Oh," Hitomi sighed. She probably wouldn't be able to see Hayate again for a while then, "Can you tell him to come and visit me when he gets back? Oh, my name is Hitomi."

"Um yeah, sure," the kunoichi didn't really want Hitomi to get too close to Hayate and that seemed like it was what she wanted. She admitted to herself that it was selfish of herself to prevent the two from becoming friends, but she didn't want Hayate's love for her to be... distributed, "I have to get up early tomorrow if I'm going to be up in time. You should probably go too."

"Alright," Ayane left the German girl and continued on upstairs back to her room. Hitomi, in return continued to roam the hotel, too excited about possibly seeing Hayate the next day to sleep.

* * *

**A.N.**- Well notepad cut me off again so I can't write anymore. I'm gonna download OpenOffice so maybe I can get more in the next chapter. 


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